Terry Jeffrey writes in a June 21 CNSNews.com article:
Middle-class Americans–not the rich or the poor–pay the majority of annual tax revenues taken in by the federal government, according to data released in a new Congressional Budget Office study. Households earning less than $34,300 per year, meanwhile, actually pay a negative average federal income tax rate.
Middle-class households that earned between $34,300 and $141,900 paid 50.5 percent of all federal tax revenues in 2007 (the most recent year analyzed), according to the CBO study released Thursday, and households that earned between $34,300 and $352,900 paid 66.7 percent of all federal taxes.
That’s a peculiarly broad definition of “middle class,” isn’t it? As Jamison Foser points out, 95 percent of U.S. households make less than $141,900 a year, and 90 percent make less than $102,900. Jeffrey is including those in the 90th to 95th percentile of income as “middle class.”