What share of adjusted gross income did the top 1% earn in 2022 versus the tax they paid?
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Executive summary
In tax year 2022 the richest 1% of U.S. taxpayers earned roughly one-fifth to one-quarter of national income depending on the measure — estimates range from about 13% of wages (SSA measure) to roughly 20–22% of broader income measures — and they paid about 40% of federal individual income taxes that year (IRS-derived estimates) [1] [2] [3]. The top 1% faced an average federal income‑tax rate in 2022 near the mid‑20s percent on reported AGI, far above the economy‑wide average of ~14.5% [4] [3].
1. What “share of income” means: competing measures and why they differ
Different researchers measure the top 1% share in different ways: Social Security Administration (SSA) wage data focuses on wages and salaries and reports the top 1% earned about 12.9% of all wages in 2022, while broader tax‑based series and CBO/Piketty‑Saez style datasets that include capital income and business income put the top 1% share of total income higher — often in the low‑to‑high teens or around 20–22% depending on coverage and deflation choices [1] [2] [5]. Methodological choices — taxable income vs. market income vs. wages only, treatment of capital gains and pass‑through business income, and whether transfers are included — drive most of the variation [5] [6].
2. How much AGI the top 1% reported and cutoffs for inclusion
IRS‑based cutoffs used in many of the tax‑share analyses place the top 1% threshold in 2022 around the mid‑$600,000s of AGI (roughly $663k by some IRS tabulations used in visualizations), while other public summaries and calculators cite thresholds near $561k to $660k depending on the dataset and whether households or tax units are counted [7] [4] [8]. These cutoff discrepancies reflect whether analysts use household versus tax‑return units and whether they update older thresholds for inflation [7].
3. The tax share: the top 1% paid about 40% of federal individual income taxes
Multiple IRS‑based presentations and intermediaries (Tax Foundation summaries, National Taxpayers Union Foundation, Visual Capitalist) report that the top 1% accounted for roughly 40.4% of federal individual income tax receipts in 2022, down from a pandemic‑era high in 2021 [3] [9] [4]. In dollar terms this cohort paid on the order of $850–$864 billion in income taxes in 2022 and averaged roughly $561k in income tax paid per return in that group [4] [10].
4. Effective tax rates on AGI: what the numbers show
Using IRS measures with AGI as the tax base, the average federal income‑tax rate for the top 1% in 2022 is commonly reported around the mid‑20s (about 23–26% in cited summaries), compared with an economy‑wide average individual income‑tax rate near 14.5% [3] [4]. Analysts caution, however, that “average tax rate on AGI” excludes payroll taxes, state and local taxes, and can overstate or understate a taxpayer’s economic tax burden because realized capital gains, unrealized gains, and timing choices matter [11].
5. What this combination of income share and tax share implies
If the top 1% receive roughly 13–22% of income under various measures and pay about 40% of federal income taxes, that pattern reflects both the progressive statutory rate structure and the concentration of taxable realized income at the top in 2022 — particularly realized capital gains in some years [1] [3]. But interpretation hinges on measurement: wage‑only series show a smaller income share for the top 1% than tax‑based series that include capital and business income [1] [5].
6. Disagreements, caveats and unreported elements
Sources disagree on the numerator (what “income” includes) and the denominator (wages vs. total national income), producing different top‑1% shares [5] [1]. Important omissions in many headline figures include payroll taxes, state/local taxes, the treatment of unrealized capital gains and borrowing, and tax avoidance/evasion estimates — all of which change the picture of “who pays what” if included [11] [6]. Available sources do not mention a definitive nationwide figure that combines comprehensive economic income plus all taxes (federal, state, payroll, and wealth taxes) for 2022.
7. Bottom line for readers
In 2022 the richest 1% paid roughly 40% of federal individual income taxes while receiving a materially large but measurement‑sensitive share of U.S. income (estimates range from roughly 13% of wages to about 20–22% of total income depending on the dataset). Readers should treat any single percentage as conditional on definitions: which incomes are counted, whether capital or business income is included, and which taxes are tallied [1] [3] [2].