How much of your income really goes towards taxes, when you add up federal, state, and local taxes?

Answer: 29%

Questions: 

• What is the average federal tax rate?
• What is the relationship between income and average tax rate?
• Is the average tax rate higher or lower than you expected? Why?
• Do you think the U.S. tax system is fair? Why or why not?

Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.

Behind the numbers (ITEP):

"America’s federal tax system overall is relatively progressive, meaning it requires the rich to pay more relative to their income than others, while state and local taxes in most states are regressive, meaning they take a larger share of income from the poor than from the rich. The progressive aspects of the federal tax system offset the regressive aspects of the state and local tax system so that overall, taxes for each income group are roughly proportional to income.

The federal personal income tax is a progressive tax because it applies at higher marginal rates to higher levels of income and includes features such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which benefits low-income working people, and the refundable portion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC), which is one of the few federal policies that directly addresses child poverty...

The estimates provided in this analysis take into account all the significant federal, state, and local taxes that Americans pay"

About the Author

Kathryn Dawson

Kathryn (she/her) is excited to join the NGPF team after 9 years of experience in education as a mentor, tutor, and special education teacher. She is a graduate of Cornell University with a degree in policy analysis and management and has a master's degree in education from Brooklyn College. Kathryn is looking forward to bringing her passion for accessibility and educational justice into curriculum design at NGPF. During her free time, Kathryn loves embarking on cooking projects, walking around her Seattle neighborhood with her dog, or lounging in a hammock with a book.