Hacker News Reader

Interestingly, the IRS has a WI80 of 22.6, higher than all the industry averages listed in the article except gaming: the 1% pays 50% of the income taxes, and the top 20% pays 85% [1]

[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/13/top-1-pay-nearly-half-of-fed...

View on HN

What do you conclude from that, and what do you conclude from studying, say, 1950, when the top federal income tax rate was over 90%?

My point in asking is this: quoting statistics such as the above is often a 'push poll' type situation, trying to suggest a particular conclusion, often by idealogues.

Interpreting that information requires a whole lot of other information and the conclusions to be drawn are not what one might initially assume.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com