Just Facts Daily | Rigorously Documented Fact Checks

Federal Tax Burdens

On average, which of the following income groups pays the greatest portion of their income in federal taxes?

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The Congressional Budget Office, the U.S. Treasury, and the Tax Policy Center have all estimated that the poorest 20% of households pay an average federal tax rate of about 0%, as compared to 12% for middle-income households, 24% for the top 20%, and 30% for the richest 1%. Unlike the tax rates often cited by politicians and journalists, these figures account for nearly all forms of income and all federal taxes, including hidden taxes. They also account for all tax loopholes (aka, preferences) and reflect actual taxes paid, not theoretical rates. According to the latest Treasury Department data, the poorest 20% of households paid an average of -$527 in federal taxes in 2024, as compared to $7,425 for middle-income households, $86,540 for the top 20%, and $641,059 for the richest 1%.

DocumentationTax Burdens Forms of Income Hidden Taxes Tax Preferences

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Jeffery Epstein’s Death

FBI Director Kash Patel claims that Jeffrey Epstein, the notorious child sex trafficker and colleague of the rich and famous, simply died of suicide.

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IN FACT, credible primary sources have documented at least 15 facts consistent with the conclusion that federal employees aided and abetted Epstein’s suicide while disappearing evidence that could incriminate others in Epstein’s death and sex crimes:

1) While describing Jeffery Epstein as “arguably” one of the “most notorious” federal inmates, the DOJ Inspector General wrote that the U.S. Bureau of Prisons “provided” him “with the opportunity to take his own life.”

2) Federal prison officials placed Epstein in a cell with a murderous, hulking ex-cop, a death trap for any child molester.

3) Less than two weeks later, prison guards found Epstein in the middle of the night in a semiconscious state with a rope and “friction marks” around his neck.

4) Despite a court order requiring the prison to preserve video surveillance footage near Epstein’s cell during the strangulation, federal prison officials failed to do so and also lost the backup due to “technical errors.”

5) Federal prison officials took Epstein off “suicide watch” just one day after the strangulation without determining whether Epstein was attacked by his cellmate or tried to commit suicide.

6) One day before Epstein’s death, federal prison officials removed his new cellmate and didn’t replace him. They did this even though a prison psychologist sent an email to over 70 prison staffers stating that Epstein “needs” a cellmate — a common suicide prevention measure.

7) One day before Epstein’s death, a federal court unsealed more than 2,000 pages of lawsuit records that named and implicated wealthy and powerful people in Epstein’s child sex crimes, as well as federal officials in covering up the crimes.

8) One day before Epstein’s death, federal prison officials permitted Epstein to make a completely unmonitored phone call in direct violation of prison policy and under patently false pretenses.

9) Federal officers placed a hoard of linens in Epstein’s cell, which is commonly prohibited because they can be used to create nooses.

10) Federal officers left Epstein alone in his cell for nearly eight hours on the night he died — despite the fact that they were required to check on all inmates in his unit “at least twice per hour” and were only 15 feet from Epstein’s cell.

11) Federal officers falsified records to show that they had checked on Epstein, a violation of federal law punishable by up to five years in prison.

12) Federal prosecutors “dismissed all charges pending against” the two officers who falsified the records and “declined” to prosecute others who “falsely certified inmate countslips and round sheets on the day before and the day of Epstein’s death.”

13) Federal prison officials failed to record footage from 9 of the 11 surveillance cameras around Epstein’s cell on the night of his death, including one that showed Epstein’s cell tier and cell door.

14) The FBI agents who searched Epstein’s New York mansion found and then abandoned a sexually explicit trove of photos and CDs labeled with the names of “young” females alongside people other than Epstein. This allowed one of Epstein’s most notorious accomplices to take the evidence and potentially scrub it before giving it to the feds.

15) To this day, the federal government hasn’t revealed the names of the people that were written beside the “young” females on Epstein’s CDs.

All of this accords with the contention that influential people were complicit in the death and child sex trafficking of Epstein and have not been held accountable.

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