Income Taxes

Americans between 45 and 55 pay nearly 30% of all income taxes, bearing the largest share of tax burden in the country. These taxpayers pay an average tax rate of around 17%.

Even though she was 35 and had a 14-year-old son, Gabriela Gallegos's mother had claimed her as a dependent on her tax forms for roughly a decade. After that particularly tumultuous ten-year span of Gallegos's life came to a close, she decided to file income taxes again.

This podcast episode takes a lighthearted dive into the history of the IRS, from when the agency was founded and called the Bureau of Internal Revenue, to that one time it had to enforce a national ban on alcohol.

While wages and salaries are taxed progressively at rates up to 37%, long-term investments are taxed at lower rates: 0%, 15%, or 20%. For wealthy individuals like Buffett, whose income mainly comes from investments, this means paying a lower effective tax rate than someone earning a salary.

While immigrants who are authorized workers pay taxes just like anyone else, even unauthorized workers file tax returns. These unauthorized workers use individual taxpayer identification numbers.

Past presidents’ changes to tax codes have inflated the deficit. An expert on the topic explains the interplay between policy and the national budget while debunking 10 tax-related myths in this podcast.

In the 2020s, the top marginal tax rate has floated around 37%, relatively lower than previous eras. Some have called for boosting the rate significantly to tax the highest earners.

Tax avoidance isn’t the same as tax evasion. The tax code is full of legal loopholes accountants can use to lighten their clients’ tax burden. NPR shares their (and listeners’) favorite sections of the tax code in this podcast. For instance, large estates can be counted as farms and some cars count as heavy machinery. Listen to this podcast to learn about tax loopholes that range from surprising to legitimately useful.

Nobody likes filing their tax return each year, but this article takes that sentiment a step further. Specifically, the author argues that the tax system obscures certain aspects of the US tax code, making it difficult for taxpayers to accurately assess potential reforms. Learn more about why the information Americans have about our tax system might be misleading.

Before the 16th Amendment, US tax law required direct taxes (like income and property taxes) to be directly apportioned to a state's population. Due to these requirements, the federal government could not impose many direct taxes. But the 16th Amendment changed all that. To find out more about direct and indirect taxes, read this explainer.