Someone posted an online comment to my spout that the infamous "1%" carries 35% of the tax burden, while noting that 45% pay nothing, and carry no burden. The commenter remarked, "Check your stats on how much total federal tax, not just income tax, the top 1% pays, including Social Security, medicare, and capital gains." The comment begs the question since all of these other taxes are also graduated based on income, thus the 1% carry most of that load too. Of course, by doing the math it follows that 54% of us carry 65% of the burden. That still says little against the 1% or for the 45%.