The headline in the print edition, “Study: Top 1% dodge taxes,” (March 27), is familiar. Not saying there are no inequities in the distribution of wealth or the tax system but what the article does NOT tell you is what the top 1% DO pay. The following data is according to the Tax Foundation: In 2016, income earned by the top 1% rose from 19.7% to 21% of all income earned in the U.S. They paid 38.5% of all taxes, up from 37.3%. In 2017, the top 50% of all earners paid a whopping 97% of all individual income taxes. The top 1% paid a greater share of individual income taxes than the entire bottom 90%. The top 1% pay at a rate six times higher than the bottom 50%.

Now we all want to “tax the rich.” The $175 billion “unpaid” taxes as mentioned in the article represents 9% of the biggest pork bill to hit the streets in history (the latest “stimulus” package). So, to everyone screaming tax the rich do not think for one second that it will lower YOUR taxes. D.C. has a way of disappearing revenue better than anyone else on the planet, at $22 trillion in debt and counting.

Ted Genard

Montville