The rich say they pay 40% of all taxes and that's "unfair"...

[Igel]

30. Not what the chart means.

Then again, the OP also botches it: the rich pay 40% of income taxes but have most of the wealth.

The problem is that the percentage of income taxes they pay is about the same as their percentage of all income. That they have wealth sitting around is irrelevant to the first claim--my parents paid low income tax on their reitirement income even though they had a $200k house, two cars, a couple of IRAs and a couple hundred thousand in the bank (after cashing out all the savings bonds my mother had).

There are counter-arguments to be made--that the income taxes don't include payroll taxes, that 10% of $10k in income is different in effect on a family's living standard from the effect of 10% taxes on $100k or $1 million.

Then again, the idea that wealth is something that should be taxable all by itself is also a bit odd--my neighbors didn't lose anything when their houses went from $140 to $90k in worth any more than they gained when their houses went from $120 to $140k in 1996 or from $90k to $110k in 2013. Unless they were busy selling them at the time--then they had a loss (or gain). They've gained wealth and lost it (only to gain it back) and it has, properly, no tax implication. It would suck for a family making $50k a year to suddenly have to pay income taxes on an extra $20k one year, then two years later lose $50k in wealth with little effect on their income taxes, and 3-4 years after that pay taxes on another $20k as their houses regained value.