Taxes

Danielle Kurtzleben at NPR (National Public Radio) here reports on having asked people if they believed the highest earners pay a significantly higher share of federal income taxes than they did in 1980.

I clicked True. Kurtzleben says it is False. She's wrong. See here. The graph shows about 19% in 1980 and about 36% in 2011. Kurtzleben's "justification" fails, because the question is about share of taxes paid and her "justification" is based on rates.

P.S. After I posted the above and wrote to NPR about it, the NPR website was edited. It now reads: True or False: For the highest earners, the percent of federal income taxes they pay now is significantly higher than it was in 1980.

That better fits her explanation, but "percent" is more ambiguous than it was. Is that a percent of all taxes or a percent of high earners' income? It may also differ from the question that was asked respondents.

The page now includes:  Clarification: This story has been updated to reflect that the question about taxes paid by the richest Americans could be interpreted in different ways.