Every year the IRS publishes data on which income groups pay the most federal individual income taxes. This data is used extensively by researchers and policy groups trying to shed some light on exactly who pays taxes, and how much.
The IRS has now published the same data by state, showing how much residents of each income group in each state send to Washington each year. The new numbers provide some fascinating insights into how much taxA tax is a mandatory payment or charge collected by local, state, and national governments from individuals or businesses to cover the costs of general government services, goods, and activities. is paid by wealthy individuals in certain states.
For example, the top 1 percent of tax returns (150,000 returns) in California alone pay more in federal individual income taxes than the bottom 50 percent of taxpayers in the entire country. Put another way, 150,000 wealthy taxpayers in CA pay more than 66.6 million taxpayers nationwide. The same is true of New York, Texas, and Florida.
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