Fact From Fiction: The Top 1%

In her monthly column for South Florida Business & Wealth, WE’s Julie Neitzel separates fact from fiction surrounding our country’s top 1% of income earners. Despite complaints that the most wealthy don’t pay their fair share of taxes, tax revenue from our nation’s wealthiest accounted for nearly half of all federal income taxes paid in 2015. Looking at it from another perspective, approximately $1 TRILLION in tax money was collected from the 1% – meaning 3 million Americans essentially provided benefits for 325 million of their fellow countrymen.

So what are your chances of joining the 1%? Most taxpayers don’t stay in the ranks long once they arrive. It’s estimated that only 11% of Americans will join the top 1% for one year of their taxpaying lives, and less than 6% will remain there for 2 years. And if you are lucky enough to reach that financial summit, you have another challenge in front of you: navigating your way through our nation’s 14,000-page federal tax code.

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