Editing Taxation in the United States (section)

==Policy issues==
[[File:Timeline of average effective tax rates of 400 richest families and bottom 50% of US households.png|thumb|Average effective tax rates of 400 richest families and bottom 50% of US households. 1960-2018. Includes federal, state, and local taxes. Data sources: Emmanual Saez and [[Gabriel Zucman]].<ref name=FAIR360>{{cite web |title=Making History: U.S. Billionaires Paid Lower Tax Rate Than Working Class |url=https://www.fair360.com/making-history-u-s-billionaires-paid-lower-tax-rate-than-working-class-2 |website=FAIR360.com |access-date=5 May 2024 |date=October 10, 2019}} Sources listed on graph: Emmanual Saez and [[Gabriel Zucman]].</ref>]]
[[File:US tax rates by income.png|thumb|Total tax rates by income percentile in the United States, 1950–2018]]
[[File:Tax proposals of 2020 US presidential candidates.jpg|thumb|Proposed tax plan payment rates by income group as a percentage of income, including mandatory health insurance, of four [[2020 United States presidential election]] candidates]]
{{Main|Progressivity in United States income tax}}
Commentators Benjamin Page, Larry Bartels, and Jason Seawright contend that Federal tax policy in relation to regulation and reform in the United States tends to favor wealthy Americans. They assert that political influence is a legal right the wealthy can exercise by contributing funds to lobby for their policy preference.<ref name="Page 51–73">{{Cite journal|last1=Page|first1=Benjamin I.|last2=Bartels|first2=Larry M.|last3=Seawright|first3=Jason|title=Democracy and the Policy Preferences of Wealthy Americans|journal=Perspectives on Politics|volume=11|issue=1|pages=51–73|doi=10.1017/s153759271200360x|year=2013|s2cid=154480850}}</ref>

Each major type of tax in the United States has been used by some jurisdiction at some time as a tool of social policy. Both liberals and conservatives have called for more [[progressive tax]]es in the U.S.<ref name=YglesiasWealth>{{cite news|last=Yglesias|first=Matthew|title=America Does Tax Wealth, Just Not Very Intelligently|url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/03/06/america_s_wealth_tax_it_s_called_property_taxes_and_they_re_not_very_smart.html|access-date=March 18, 2013|newspaper=Slate|date=March 6, 2013}}</ref><ref name=BairParity>{{cite news|last=Bair|first=Sheila|title=Grand Old Parity|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/opinion/republicans-must-bridge-the-income-gap.html|access-date=March 18, 2013|newspaper=New York Times|date=February 26, 2013}}</ref> Page, Bartels, and Seawright assert that, although members of the government favor a move toward progressive taxes, due to budget deficits, upper class citizens are not yet willing to make a push for the change. Tax cuts were provided during the Bush administration, and were extended in 2010, making federal income taxes less progressive.<ref name="Page 51–73"/>

===Tax evasion===
{{Main|Tax evasion in the United States}}
[[File:20220826 Share of unpaid taxes, by income level - area chart, treemap - NYTimes - Dept of Treasury.svg|thumb|U.S. Treasury Department 2019 estimates of unpaid taxes indicate that over half of all unpaid taxes are attributable to the top 5% of earners.<ref name=NYTimes_20220826>{{cite news |last1=Lopez |first1=German |last2=Wu |first2=Ashley |title=Conspiracy Theories / How more funding for the I.R.S. became a political firestorm |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/26/briefing/conspiracy-irs-tax-agency-fraud.html |work=The New York Times |date=August 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220826102900/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/26/briefing/conspiracy-irs-tax-agency-fraud.html |archive-date=August 26, 2022 |quote=Source: U.S. Department of Treasury; Estimates from 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
The Internal Revenue Service estimated that, in 2001, the tax gap was $345 billion.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=154496,00.html |title=IRS Updates Tax Gap Estimates |publisher=Irs.gov |access-date=2011-12-10}}</ref> The tax gap is the difference between the amount of tax legally owed and the amount actually collected by the government. The tax gap in 2006 was estimated to be $450 billion.<ref>{{cite web|title=Tax Gap for Tax Year 2006 Overview Jan. 6, 2012|url=https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/06rastg12overvw.pdf|publisher=U.S. Internal Revenue Service|access-date=2012-06-14}}</ref> The tax gap two years later in 2008 was estimated to be in the range of $450–$500 billion and unreported income was estimated to be approximately $2 trillion.<ref name="ideas.repec.org">{{cite journal|last1=Feige|first1=Edgar L.|author-link1=Edgar L. Feige|last2=Cebula|first2=Richard|date=January 2011|title=America's Underground Economy: Measuring the Size, Growth and Determinants of Income Tax Evasion in the U.S|url=https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/29672/1/MPRA_paper_29672.pdf|journal=Munich Personal RePEc Archive|publisher=[[University of Wisconsin-Madison]]|access-date=December 20, 2023}}</ref> Therefore, 18–19 percent of total reportable income was not properly reported to the IRS.<ref name="ideas.repec.org"/>