How 2022 Became a Record Year for US Income Taxes: Justin Fox

Americans paid out an estimated 14.7% of personal income in 2022 in what the US Bureau of Economic Analysis calls personal current taxes (mainly federal, state and local income taxes), an all-time high. But don’t worry, the percentage will be lower in 2023.

This record-setting income tax burden, and the sharp increase since 2020 that brought it to this level, was not due to new tax legislation taking effect during this period. It also wasn’t really expected — the Congressional Budget Office greatly underestimated how much income tax revenue would flow into federal coffers last year. It seems to have been the ...