Today, the New York Times editorial page repeated the President’s bogus claim that the current U.S. tax system has “millionaires and billionaires pay[ing] lower tax rates than middle-class families.”  This blatant falsehood is behind the President’s newly proposed “Buffett Rule.”  However, as the table below shows, every bit of tax data proves the New York Times and President Obama wrong.

AVERAGE TAX RATES PAID BY AMERICANS 

Congressional Budget Office (CBO):  According to the most recent CBO data on federal taxes (individual income taxes, social insurance taxes, corporate income taxes, and excise taxes) and household income from 2006, the middle household income quintile (whose average pretax income is $60,700) pays an average tax rate of 14.2 percent.  The top 1 percent of American households, who have an average household income of $1,743,700, pay an average tax rate of 31.2 percent.  CBO estimates the top 5 percent of American households, with an average income of $564,200, pay an average tax rate of 29 percent.

Internal Revenue Service (IRS):  According to the most recent IRS data from 2008, Americans with incomes of $1,000,000 or more pay an average income tax rate of 23.3 percent, while those with incomes between $50,000 and $100,000 pay an average income tax rate of 8.9 percent.

Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT):  According to recent JCT estimates of income, social insurance, and excise taxes in 2011, Americans with incomes between $50,000 and $75,000 will pay an average tax rate of 12.8 percent.  Americans with incomes over $1,000,000 will pay an average tax rate of 23.6 percent.