Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Do the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes?
Do the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes?
Jan 17, 2026 7:56 PM

During her presidential campaign, Sec. Hillary Clinton has repeatedly said she’d implement a tax system in which the wealthy “pay their fair share in taxes.” Expecting the rich to pay what is “fair” is not asking to much of them. But one question that is rarely considered is, “What if they already do pay their fair share?”

Before we can determine whether the rich pay enough we have to first ask what would be “fair.” How much of total tax revenues should, say, the top one percent of households pay? Five percent? 10 percent? 20 percent?

According to new IRS statistics from 2014 tax returns, the top one percent of households paid almost 40 percent of all e taxes collected by the federal government.

In 2014, 139,562,034 filed an e tax return, putting just under 1.4 million people into the category of “one percenters.” They earned 20.58 percent of all e and paid 39.48 percent of the taxes. The average adjusted gross e (AGI) for the group was $465,626 (the “poorest” people in the group had an AGI of $257,110).

This chart by the Wall Street Journal’s Richard Rubinhighlights that the top 25 percent (avg. AGI: $77, 714) paid nearly 86.78 percent of all e taxes.

As Rubin says, “So when we talk about the individual e tax, we’re mostly talking about how we tax e households, because that’s where the bulk of the e is and where the tax revenue is.”

It makes sense that e households would pay more in e taxes since, to paraphrase the bank robber Willie Sutton, “that’s where the money is.” Yet there is more to consider in assessing tax fairness than merely whether e earners are paying enough.

As Abraham Kuyper famously said, “there is not a square inch in the whole domain of human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’” This is important consideration for Christians to keep in mind when we think about money, especially when we think about how to “redistribute” the e of our neighbor. Their e—like our es from and is owned by God. How it should be spent is ultimately the Lord’s prerogative. We don’t have free reign to write a check to the IRS from our neighbor’s bank account.

This does not mean, of course, that we shouldn’t expect those who have been blessed financially to help share the burden of funding our government. What it does mean, though, is that when we think about at what level of funding we need to perform proper government functions we must not assume that merely because our neighbors have high earnings we are justified in taking from them whatever we want.

When we think about what constitutes a fair system of taxation we must not only ask whether the wealthy are paying their “fair share” but also whether our system is fair to those to whom God has given much.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
7 Figures: Trends in global restrictions on religion
A new study by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John Templeton Foundation reports on the extent to which governments and societies around the world impinge on religious beliefs and practices. Here are seven figures you should know from the study about trends in religious hostilities: 1. Of the 198 countries included in the study—covering 99.5 percent of the world’s population—28 percent had high or very high levels of government restrictions in 2016 (the most recent year for which data...
Free trade could solve the migrant issue: German leader
Germany’s development minister made a startling proposal to the EU this week. There is a simple way to help Africa flourish and reduce the number of migrants seeking greener pastures in Europe: “Open the market for all African goods.” The proposal not only stymies EU officials, who preside over arch-protectionist agricultural regulations, but may solve the continent’s most vexing problem: illegal migration. German Development Minister Gerd Müller proposed a free trade policy – especially for agriculture – in an interview...
How to increase the economic knowledge of Americans
Imagine you receive an email from the Secretary of Education saying that you’ve been randomly selected for a test pilot program. In an attempt to democratize the educational system, 20 citizens have been selected to develop a curriculum that will be added as a graduation requirement for every high school student in America. The only limitation is that the curriculum must pertain to a subject that is already covered in high school, must not be tied to religion or theology,...
Socialism dehumanizes the poor…and socialists: Socialist leader
Socialism claims that its collectivist economic plans “put people first.” But even the philosophy behind socialism dehumanizes everyone involved – according to one of the foremost socialist leaders. Marxism is rooted in the concept of dialectical materialism, the pseudo-scientific assertion that the endless churning of class conflict between the rich (bourgeoisie) and the poor (proletariat) eventually produces a worker’s paradise. But to see “poverty as a force in a historic [dialectic], is not only the dehumanization of the poor, it...
Radio Free Acton: Luke Burgis tackles myths about entrepreneurship; Upstream on government funded art
On this episode of Radio Free Acton, Victoria Antram, summer intern at Acton, speaks with Luke Burgis, a businessman who was named a top 25 under 25 entrepreneur by Business Week, about the myths and misconceptions about entrepreneurship. Then, on the Upstream segment, Bruce Edward Walker talks to J. Bradley Studemeyer about government funded art in anticipation of the ing book, Art from the Swamp. Check out these additional resources on this week’s podcast topics: Learn more about Luke Burgis...
Welfare states cultivate the sin of sloth
“As thousands of African migrants land on the golden beaches of Spain, old Europe shows the signs of fatigue,” says MihailNeamtu in this week’s Acton Commentary. “In August, most of its politicians are on holiday. Every summer, for nearly six weeks, Brussels officials cannot be bothered to ponder the future of the European Union.” In the meantime, in Mediterranean countries, the youth seem to be haunted by the same pressing question: “Will I get a proper job?” In Greece, unemployment...
What do banks do?
Note: This is post #88 in a weekly video series on basic economics. Borrowing and saving plays an essential role in our economy, and banks often serve as their primary link. But how exactly do banks operate? In this video by Marginal Revolution University, Alex Tabarrok explains how banks serve as financial intermediaries, how they turn savings into loans, and how they make loans as productive as possible. (If you find the pace of the videos too slow, I’d mend...
The financial crisis is over, but markets still need moral attention
With the financial crisis nearly a decade behind us, and with the latest figures showing4.1 percent economic growth, the economic woes of yesteryear feel increasingly distant in our past. Even still, it’s hard to avoid the sense that something remains amiss—that beneath the material successes and encouraging metrics about unemployment rates and Gross Domestic Product, our society continues to lack the moral fabric necessary for sustained and holistic economic flourishing. In his book, Crisis of Responsibility, investment advisor David Bahnsen...
How capitalism confounds our notions about the Earth’s ‘carrying capacity’
Thedoom delusions of central planners and population “experts” are well documented and thoroughly exposed, ranging fromthe early pessimism of Rev. Thomas Robert Malthustothe more recentpredictions of Paul Ehrlich. Population growth is something we needn’t fear, and regardless, it’s likely to begin its reverse within the near future, as increasing global prosperity continues to correspond with decreasing global birthrates (this inspires fears of its own). Given that striking reality, the doomsday soothsayers have shifted their arguments accordingly, warning instead of a...
Chafuen on ‘The vocation of the think tank’
Alejandro Chafuen – the Acton Institute’s Managing Director, International – received the prestigious 2018 “Premio Juan de Mariana”award from the Intituto Juan de Mariana earlier this year. Today at Acton’s Religion & Liberty Transatlantic website, we have posted the full text of his acceptance speech. Chafuen holds special affection for Juan de Mariana, the Jesuit priest and thinker associated with the School of Salamanca. In his remarks, Chafuen summarized the theologian’s economic and political thought, saying: He states that God...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved