Arbeitspapier
Income taxation of US households: Basic facts
We use micro data from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service to document how households' tax liabilities vary with income, marital status and the number of dependents. We report facts on the distributions of average and marginal taxes, properties of the joint distributions of taxes paid and income, and discuss how taxes are affected by marital status and the number of children. The data reveals a large dispersion in tax rates and taxes paid. Ranking households according to the average tax rates they face, those at top 1% face taxes in excess of 27.5%, while the median tax rate is about 8%. About 14.5% of married and 31.8% of unmarried households do not pay any taxes. Given the progressivity in the system, tax liabilities are more unequally distributed than income. The top 5% (1%) of households account for 54% (34.8%) of total tax liabilities, while top 5% (1%) of households have 34.8% (20.3%) of total income. We also provide parametric estimates of tax functions for use in applied work in macroeconomics and public finance.
- Language
-
Englisch
- Bibliographic citation
-
Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 5549
- Classification
-
Wirtschaft
Fiscal Policy
Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents: Household
Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Domestic Abuse
Time Allocation and Labor Supply
- Subject
-
taxation
tax progressivity
households
Einkommensteuer
Privater Haushalt
Steuerbelastung
Steuerprogression
Haushaltseinkommen
Einkommensverteilung
USA
- Event
-
Geistige Schöpfung
- (who)
-
Guner, Nezih
Kaygusuz, Remzi
Ventura, Gustavo
- Event
-
Veröffentlichung
- (who)
-
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
- (where)
-
Bonn
- (when)
-
2011
- Handle
- URN
-
urn:nbn:de:101:1-201104133713
- Last update
-
10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET
Data provider
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. If you have any questions about the object, please contact the data provider.
Object type
- Arbeitspapier
Associated
- Guner, Nezih
- Kaygusuz, Remzi
- Ventura, Gustavo
- Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
Time of origin
- 2011
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Does income taxation affect partners' household chores?
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Differential income taxation and household asset allocation
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Income Taxation of U.S. Households: Basic Facts
Capital income taxation and household saving
Capital Income Taxation and Household Production
Does income taxation affect partners' household chores?
Differential income taxation and household asset allocation
Does income taxation affect partners' household chores?
Differential income taxation and household asset allocation
Household bargaining and the design of couples' income taxation
Household Bargaining and the Design of Couples' Income Taxation
Household Bargaining and the Design of Couples' Income Taxation
Basic income