First, the claim that the rich pay practically all the taxes, so that of course they have to get the bulk of the tax cut. On the first: you might think there was some contradiction between the incessant claim that this is a middle-class tax cut and the claim that the rich deserve to get the lion’s share. Anyway, the claim about who pays taxes is a very familiar one to us old hands: say “taxes” when what you really mean are “federal income taxes,” as if this was the only tax. In reality, while the federal income tax is indeed mainly paid by people with high incomes, it’s far from being the only tax. At the federal level, most people pay more in payroll taxes than in income taxes, and the payroll tax is actually regressive.

Source: New York Times October 29, 2017 15:45 UTC