wealthiest American households paid a lower tax rate last year than every other income group for the first time in the country’s history. economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman compiled a historical database composed of the tax payments of households in various income percentiles spanning all the way back to 1913, when the federal income tax was first implemented. Their research uncovered that in the 2018 fiscal year the wealthiest 400 Americans paid a lower tax rate—accounting for federal, state, and local taxes—than anyone else.
— source wsws.org | 10 Oct 2019