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Effective Federal Tax Rates: 

1979-2001

April 2004

Updating the series of historical effective tax rates estimated by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) 

and presented in a recent paper, Effective Federal Tax Rates, 1997 to 2000, (1) the following tables 

provide values for an additional year--2001. 

The tables show effective tax rates for the four largest sources of federal revenues--individual income 

taxes, corporate income taxes, payroll taxes, and excise taxes--as well as the total effective rate for the 

four taxes combined. The tables also present average pretax and after-tax household income; counts of 

households; and shares of taxes, income, and households for each fifth (quintile) of the income 

distribution and the top percentiles of households. 

Who Pays Taxes

In the analysis, households were assumed to bear the burden of the taxes that they pay directly (for 

example, individual income and payroll taxes). Excise taxes were assumed to be borne by households 

according to their consumption of taxed goods (tobacco and alcohol) or--in the case of excise taxes that 

affect intermediate goods--in proportion to overall consumption. Taxes on businesses were attributed to 

households. CBO assumed, as do most economists, that employers' shares of payroll taxes fall on 

employees and therefore that the amount of those taxes should be included in employees' income and the 

taxes counted as part of employees' tax burden. Corporate income taxes were assumed to be borne by 

owners of capital. CBO allocated corporate tax liabilities to households in proportion to their income from 

interest, dividends, rents, and capital gains. 

Measuring Income

This analysis is based on adjusted pretax comprehensive household income. That measure includes all 

cash income (both taxable and tax-exempt), taxes paid by businesses (which are imputed to individuals 

on the basis of assumptions about incidence), employee contributions to 401(k) retirement plans, and the 

value of income received in kind from various sources (including employer-paid health insurance 

premiums, Medicare and Medicaid benefits, and food stamps, among others). The tables use the Census 

Bureau's fungible value measure to determine the cash equivalent of in-kind government transfers. 

CBO adjusted the resulting measure of comprehensive income for differences in the size of households in 

order to assign households to income quintiles. It used adjusted income only to rank households in the 

income distribution; values in Tables 1C, 2C, 3C, and 4CA for average income are based on income 

unadjusted for household size. 

Income Quintiles

The tables report values for both the entire population and for parts of the income distribution. Quintiles 

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form the basic groups of interest. The tables also include information about households in the top 10 

percent, top 5 percent, and top 1 percent of the income distribution. The analysis does not show a 

comparable subdivision of the lowest quintile because effective tax rates and income are distributed in 

similar ways for households in different parts of that income group. 

Quintiles contain equal numbers of people, but because households vary in size, quintiles generally 

contain unequal numbers of households. 

Types of Household

Separate tables show effective tax rates and income for different types of household: those with members 

under age 18 (households with children), those headed by a person age 65 or older and with no member 

under age 18 (elderly childless households), and all others (nonelderly childless households). 

Importing the Data into Spreadsheets

To import the values of the tables, which are in html format, into Excel or another spreadsheet program, 

simply copy the information of interest and paste it into that program. 

1. Congressional Budget Office, Effective Federal Tax Rates, 1997 to 2000, August 2003.

 

 

All Households

● Table 1A. Effective Federal Tax Rates

● Table 1B. Shares of Federal Tax Liabilities

● Table 1C. Number of Households, Average Income and Income Shares, and Income Category Minimums

Households with Children

● Table 2A. Effective Federal Tax Rates

● Table 2B. Shares of Federal Tax Liabilities

● Table 2C. Number of Households, Average Pretax and After-Tax Income, Shares of Pretax and After-Tax Income, and 

Income Category Minimums

Elderly Childless Households

● Table 3A. Effective Federal Tax Rates

● Table 3B. Shares of Federal Tax Liabilities

● Table 3C. Number of Households, Average Pretax and After-Tax Income, Shares of Pretax and After-Tax Income, and 

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Income Category Minimums

Nonelderly Childless Households

● Table 4A. Effective Federal Tax Rates

● Table 4B. Shares of Federal Tax Liabilities

● Table 4C. Number of Households, Average Pretax and After-Tax Income, Shares of Pretax and After-Tax Income, and 

Income Category Minimums

 

Table 1A. 

Effective Federal Tax Rates for All Households, by Comprehensive Household Income Quintile, 1979-2001

Income 

Category 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

Total Effective Federal Tax Rate

Lowest Quintile 8.0 7.7 8.3 8.2 9.1 10.2 9.8 9.6 8.7 8.5 7.9 8.9 8.4 8.2 8.0 6.6 6.3 5.6 5.8 5.8 6.1 6.4 5.4

Second Quintile 14.3 14.1 14.7 13.8 13.7 14.6 14.8 14.8 14.0 14.3 13.9 14.6 14.2 13.7 13.5 13.1 13.4 13.2 13.6 13.0 13.3 13.0 11.6

Middle Quintile 18.6 18.7 19.2 17.9 17.5 18.0 18.1 18.0 17.6 17.9 17.9 17.9 17.6 17.4 17.3 17.3 17.3 17.3 17.4 16.8 16.9 16.7 15.2

Fourth Quintile 21.2 21.5 22.1 20.6 20.1 20.4 20.4 20.5 20.2 20.6 20.5 20.6 20.5 20.2 20.2 20.4 20.5 20.3 20.5 20.4 20.5 20.5 19.3

Highest Quintile 27.5 27.3 26.9 24.4 23.9 24.3 24.0 23.8 25.8 25.6 25.2 25.1 25.3 25.6 26.8 27.4 27.8 28.0 28.0 27.6 28.0 28.0 26.8

 All 22.2 22.2 22.4 20.7 20.4 21.0 20.9 20.9 21.6 21.8 21.5 21.5 21.5 21.5 22.0 22.3 22.6 22.7 22.9 22.6 22.9 23.1 21.5

Top 10% 29.6 29.0 28.2 25.3 24.8 25.2 24.7 24.3 27.2 26.7 26.3 26.1 26.6 26.9 28.6 29.4 29.8 30.1 29.9 29.3 29.7 29.7 28.6

Top 5% 31.8 30.8 29.4 26.0 25.6 26.1 25.4 24.6 28.5 27.8 27.2 27.0 27.6 28.1 30.5 31.3 31.8 32.0 31.6 30.8 31.2 31.1 30.1

Top 1% 37.0 34.6 31.8 27.7 27.7 28.2 27.0 25.5 31.2 29.7 28.9 28.8 29.9 30.6 34.5 35.8 36.1 36.0 34.9 33.4 33.5 33.2 33.0

Effective Individual Income Tax Rate

Lowest Quintile 0.0 0.2 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.7 0.5 0.4 -0.6 -1.1 -1.6 -1.0 -1.6 -2.1 -2.3 -3.9 -4.4 -5.1 -5.2 -5.4 -5.2 -4.6 -5.6

Second Quintile 4.1 4.5 4.8 4.2 3.8 4.0 4.0 4.0 3.2 3.1 2.9 3.4 2.9 2.5 2.3 1.9 2.0 1.8 2.1 1.5 1.7 1.5 0.3

Middle Quintile 7.5 8.0 8.3 7.4 6.7 6.7 6.6 6.5 5.8 5.9 6.0 6.0 5.8 5.5 5.4 5.3 5.3 5.4 5.6 5.0 5.0 5.0 3.8

Fourth Quintile 10.1 10.7 11.1 10.0 9.1 8.9 8.8 8.8 8.1 8.3 8.3 8.3 8.1 7.9 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.9 8.0 7.9 8.0 8.1 7.2

Highest Quintile 15.7 16.5 16.7 15.3 14.2 14.1 14.0 14.2 14.9 14.9 14.6 14.4 14.3 14.5 14.9 15.0 15.5 16.1 16.4 16.5 17.1 17.5 16.3

 All 11.0 11.7 12.0 11.0 10.2 10.2 10.2 10.4 10.3 10.4 10.2 10.1 9.9 9.9 10.0 10.0 10.2 10.7 11.0 11.0 11.4 11.8 10.4

Top 10% 17.4 18.2 18.2 16.9 15.6 15.6 15.4 15.5 16.8 16.6 16.3 16.0 16.0 16.3 17.0 17.1 17.7 18.3 18.5 18.7 19.3 19.7 18.7

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Top 5% 19.0 19.7 19.6 18.3 16.9 17.0 16.7 16.6 18.5 18.2 17.7 17.5 17.6 18.0 19.1 19.2 19.8 20.5 20.6 20.6 21.3 21.6 20.8

Top 1% 21.8 22.3 21.5 20.4 19.4 19.3 18.9 18.3 21.5 20.7 19.9 19.9 20.6 21.2 23.2 23.0 23.7 24.2 23.8 23.4 24.0 24.2 24.1

Effective Social Insurance Tax Rate

Lowest Quintile 5.3 5.3 5.9 5.9 6.1 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.4 6.9 7.1 7.3 7.2 7.3 7.2 7.2 7.6 7.8 8.1 8.4 8.4 8.2 8.3

Second Quintile 7.7 7.6 8.1 8.0 7.9 8.4 8.8 8.8 8.6 9.0 8.9 9.3 9.2 8.9 8.8 8.9 9.1 9.2 9.4 9.4 9.5 9.4 9.4

Middle Quintile 8.6 8.5 9.1 8.9 8.9 9.2 9.5 9.5 9.4 9.7 9.8 9.9 9.6 9.7 9.6 9.5 9.6 9.6 9.6 9.6 9.6 9.6 9.5

Fourth Quintile 8.5 8.5 9.1 9.1 9.1 9.3 9.6 9.7 9.8 10.2 10.0 10.3 10.3 10.2 10.2 10.2 10.3 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.4 10.4 10.4

Highest Quintile 5.4 5.5 6.1 6.3 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.1 6.7 6.6 6.6 6.9 7.4 7.2 7.3 7.5 7.2 6.9 6.6 6.5 6.4 6.3 7.1

 All 6.9 6.9 7.5 7.5 7.5 7.8 7.9 7.7 8.0 8.1 8.1 8.4 8.6 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.5 8.3 8.2 8.1 8.0 7.9 8.4

Top 10% 4.2 4.3 4.8 5.1 5.1 5.1 5.1 4.6 5.3 5.1 5.1 5.4 6.1 5.8 6.0 6.3 6.0 5.6 5.4 5.2 5.1 5.0 5.8

Top 5% 2.8 3.0 3.4 3.7 3.7 3.7 3.7 3.2 3.8 3.6 3.7 4.0 4.7 4.4 4.7 4.9 4.6 4.3 4.0 3.9 3.8 3.8 4.5

Top 1% 0.9 1.0 1.3 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.0 1.5 1.3 1.4 1.5 2.2 1.9 2.1 2.6 2.3 2.2 2.0 1.9 1.9 1.9 2.3

Effective Corporate Income Tax Rate

Lowest Quintile 1.1 0.9 0.7 0.5 0.6 0.8 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.3

Second Quintile 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.5 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.9 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.8 0.7 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.4

Middle Quintile 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.7 0.9 1.0 0.9 0.9 1.2 1.2 1.1 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.0 1.0 1.0 0.7

Fourth Quintile 1.6 1.4 1.2 0.7 1.0 1.2 1.0 1.0 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.2 1.1 1.1 1.2 1.2 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.1 1.1 1.0 0.7

Highest Quintile 5.7 4.6 3.6 2.1 2.8 3.1 2.8 2.8 3.6 3.6 3.5 3.3 3.0 3.3 3.9 4.2 4.4 4.5 4.4 4.0 3.9 3.7 2.9

 All 3.4 2.8 2.2 1.4 1.8 2.0 1.8 1.9 2.4 2.4 2.3 2.2 2.0 2.2 2.5 2.6 2.8 2.9 2.9 2.6 2.5 2.5 1.8

Top 10% 7.4 5.9 4.6 2.8 3.5 3.9 3.6 3.5 4.6 4.5 4.4 4.2 3.8 4.2 5.0 5.4 5.6 5.6 5.5 4.9 4.7 4.5 3.6

Top 5% 9.5 7.4 5.9 3.5 4.4 4.9 4.5 4.3 5.7 5.5 5.3 5.1 4.8 5.2 6.2 6.7 6.9 6.8 6.6 5.9 5.6 5.4 4.5

Top 1% 13.8 10.8 8.7 5.4 6.4 7.1 6.4 5.8 7.8 7.3 7.2 7.1 6.8 7.2 8.8 9.7 9.7 9.3 8.7 7.8 7.3 6.8 6.4

Effective Excise Tax Rate

Lowest Quintile 1.6 1.4 1.3 1.4 2.0 2.3 2.2 2.0 2.1 2.0 1.8 2.0 2.2 2.3 2.5 2.6 2.4 2.3 2.3 2.2 2.4 2.2 2.4

Second Quintile 1.3 1.1 1.0 1.1 1.3 1.4 1.4 1.3 1.4 1.4 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.5 1.4 1.6 1.4 1.5

Middle Quintile 1.1 0.9 0.9 0.9 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.0 1.0 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.1 1.1 1.2 1.2 1.2

Fourth Quintile 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.0 0.9 0.9 1.0 0.9 1.0

Highest Quintile 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6

 All 1.0 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.9 1.0 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.1 1.0 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9

Top 10% 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5

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Top 5% 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4

Top 1% 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3

Source: Congressional Budget Office.

Effective tax rates are calculated by dividing taxes by comprehensive household income. A household consists of the people who share a housing unit, 

regardless of their relationships.

The income measure is comprehensive household income, which comprises pretax cash income plus income from other sources. Pretax cash income is the 

sum of wages, salaries, self-employment income, rents, taxable and nontaxable interest, dividends, realized capital gains, cash transfer payments, and 

retirement benefits plus taxes paid by businesses (corporate income taxes; the employer’s share of Social Security, Medicare, and federal 

unemployment insurance payroll taxes); and employees’ contributions to 401(k) retirement plans. Other sources of income include all in-kind benefits 

(Medicare, Medicaid, employer-paid health insurance premiums, food stamps, school lunches and breakfasts, housing assistance, and energy 

assistance). Households with negative income are excluded from the lowest income category but are included in totals.

Income categories are defined by ranking all people by their comprehensive household income adjusted for household size--that is, divided by the square root 

of the household’s size. Quintiles, or fifths, contain equal numbers of people.

Individual income taxes are distributed directly to households paying those taxes. Social insurance, or payroll, taxes are distributed to households paying 

those taxes directly or paying them indirectly through their employers. Corporate income taxes are distributed to households according to their share of 

capital income. Federal excise taxes are distributed to them according to their consumption of the taxed good or service.

 

Table 1B. 

Shares of Federal Tax Liabilities for All Households, by Comprehensive Household Income Quintile, 1979-2001

Income 

Category 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

Share of Total Federal Tax Liabilities

Lowest Quintile 2.1 2.0 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.4 2.3 2.1 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.9 1.9 1.7 1.6 1.3 1.3 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1

Second Quintile 7.2 7.0 7.1 7.1 6.9 7.2 7.2 6.8 6.5 6.4 6.4 6.8 6.6 6.2 6.0 5.8 5.8 5.5 5.4 5.2 5.2 4.8 5.0

Middle Quintile 13.2 13.3 13.6 13.6 13.3 13.2 13.2 12.7 12.4 12.2 12.6 12.6 12.6 12.2 11.8 11.8 11.4 11.1 10.8 10.5 10.2 9.8 10.0

Fourth Quintile 21.0 21.3 21.9 22.1 21.8 21.4 21.3 20.8 20.7 20.4 20.6 20.7 20.9 20.2 19.8 19.8 19.3 18.8 18.3 18.2 17.8 17.4 18.5

Highest Quintile 56.4 56.3 55.2 55.0 55.7 55.6 55.8 57.5 58.4 59.1 58.7 57.9 57.9 59.5 60.5 61.1 61.9 63.4 64.2 64.9 65.6 66.7 65.3

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Top 10% 40.7 40.0 38.6 38.0 39.0 39.3 39.5 41.6 42.2 43.2 42.5 41.7 41.7 43.6 44.9 45.6 46.6 48.3 49.3 49.9 51.0 52.2 50.0

Top 5% 29.6 28.7 27.2 26.5 27.7 28.2 28.4 30.7 30.8 32.3 31.3 30.6 30.3 32.3 33.8 34.4 35.4 37.3 38.3 38.9 40.2 41.4 38.5

Top 1% 15.4 14.2 12.9 12.8 14.0 14.7 14.8 17.1 16.2 18.1 16.7 16.2 15.7 17.5 18.7 19.4 20.1 21.8 22.7 23.3 24.3 25.6 22.7

Share of Individual Income Tax Liabilities

Lowest Quintile 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.2 -0.3 -0.4 -0.7 -0.4 -0.8 -0.9 -1.0 -1.7 -2.0 -2.1 -2.0 -2.1 -1.9 -1.6 -2.3

Second Quintile 4.1 4.2 4.4 4.0 3.8 4.1 4.0 3.7 3.1 2.9 2.8 3.3 2.9 2.5 2.3 1.8 1.9 1.6 1.7 1.3 1.3 1.1 0.3

Middle Quintile 10.7 10.8 10.9 10.6 10.2 10.1 9.9 9.2 8.7 8.5 8.9 8.9 9.0 8.4 8.1 8.1 7.7 7.3 7.2 6.4 6.1 5.7 5.2

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Fourth Quintile 20.2 20.2 20.6 20.2 19.7 19.2 19.0 18.0 17.5 17.2 17.6 17.8 18.0 17.1 16.8 16.9 16.2 15.5 14.9 14.6 14.0 13.5 14.3

Highest Quintile 64.9 64.8 63.9 64.9 66.1 66.3 66.9 68.9 70.9 71.9 71.4 70.4 70.8 73.0 73.8 74.9 76.1 77.6 78.2 79.8 80.6 81.2 82.5

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Top 10% 48.1 47.6 46.6 47.6 49.1 49.9 50.5 53.4 54.7 56.3 55.3 54.3 54.5 57.2 58.4 59.3 60.8 62.9 63.7 65.4 66.7 67.7 67.7

Top 5% 35.6 34.9 33.9 35.0 36.6 37.7 38.3 41.6 42.1 44.5 42.9 42.1 42.1 44.9 46.4 46.9 48.5 50.9 51.8 53.4 55.1 56.2 55.2

Top 1% 18.3 17.4 16.3 17.7 19.6 20.7 21.2 24.6 23.5 26.6 24.3 23.8 23.4 26.2 27.6 27.8 29.0 31.4 32.3 33.5 35.0 36.5 34.4

Share of Social Insurance Tax Liabilities

Lowest Quintile 4.5 4.4 4.3 4.1 4.0 4.2 4.0 3.9 3.5 3.6 3.8 4.0 4.0 3.8 3.8 3.7 4.1 4.1 4.2 4.4 4.4 4.2 4.2

Second Quintile 12.5 12.1 11.9 11.3 10.9 11.2 11.2 11.0 10.6 10.8 10.8 11.1 10.6 10.3 10.2 10.1 10.4 10.4 10.5 10.4 10.5 10.2 10.3

Middle Quintile 19.8 19.5 19.2 18.7 18.3 18.3 18.3 18.1 18.0 17.8 18.2 17.8 17.2 17.3 17.0 16.9 16.9 16.9 16.8 16.6 16.5 16.3 16.0

Fourth Quintile 27.4 27.2 27.0 26.7 26.8 26.5 26.4 26.7 26.9 27.0 26.6 26.5 26.2 26.1 26.0 25.8 25.9 25.8 25.7 25.8 25.7 25.8 25.6

Highest Quintile 35.9 36.8 37.5 39.2 39.9 39.7 39.9 40.2 40.8 40.7 40.4 40.5 41.9 42.3 42.8 43.3 42.6 42.7 42.6 42.5 42.8 43.3 43.9

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Top 10% 18.5 19.1 19.9 21.2 21.8 21.4 21.6 21.6 22.0 22.0 22.0 22.2 24.0 24.0 24.6 25.3 24.8 24.8 24.8 24.5 25.0 25.6 26.0

Top 5% 8.5 9.1 9.6 10.5 11.0 10.8 10.8 10.7 11.1 11.2 11.2 11.5 12.9 12.9 13.5 14.1 13.6 13.8 13.7 13.6 14.1 14.6 14.6

Top 1% 1.3 1.4 1.6 2.0 2.0 2.0 1.9 1.9 2.1 2.1 2.2 2.2 2.8 2.7 2.9 3.7 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.7 4.0 4.3 4.0

Share of Corporate Income Tax Liabilities

Lowest Quintile 1.8 1.8 1.6 1.7 1.6 1.9 1.4 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.4 1.3 1.1 1.0 1.1 0.9 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.9 0.8

Second Quintile 4.1 3.9 3.8 4.0 3.8 3.8 3.7 3.3 3.8 3.4 3.6 3.2 3.4 3.2 3.0 2.7 2.6 2.4 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.1 2.1

Middle Quintile 6.7 7.0 7.1 7.5 7.5 7.5 7.5 7.2 7.7 7.5 7.0 6.9 7.5 6.9 6.3 6.2 5.9 5.8 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.2 5.4

Fourth Quintile 10.5 11.3 11.9 12.1 12.2 12.7 12.3 11.7 12.8 11.6 11.7 11.6 11.6 10.8 10.3 10.1 10.0 9.7 9.2 8.7 8.5 8.0 7.7

Highest Quintile 76.5 75.5 74.9 73.8 74.2 73.2 74.2 75.7 73.1 74.9 75.2 75.6 74.5 76.4 77.9 78.5 79.0 80.1 81.5 82.0 82.1 82.9 82.6

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Top 10% 66.7 65.0 64.6 63.3 63.7 63.5 64.9 67.4 64.0 66.5 66.0 66.3 64.7 67.8 69.2 70.0 70.1 71.2 72.6 73.8 73.8 74.6 74.8

Top 5% 57.9 55.6 55.4 54.9 55.2 55.1 56.9 59.5 55.3 58.4 57.4 57.4 56.2 59.0 60.5 62.1 61.5 62.4 64.1 65.4 65.7 66.5 67.8

Top 1% 37.8 35.6 35.8 37.7 37.6 38.5 39.7 42.8 36.7 40.7 39.1 39.7 38.3 40.7 42.2 44.5 43.2 44.5 45.7 47.9 47.8 49.1 51.8

Share of Federal Excise Tax Liabilities

Lowest Quintile 9.9 9.7 9.6 9.7 10.8 11.6 11.2 10.2 10.1 9.7 9.6 10.6 10.7 10.6 10.9 10.8 10.9 10.7 11.1 10.9 10.8 10.4 11.1

Second Quintile 15.0 14.7 14.6 14.5 14.5 14.9 14.7 14.3 14.8 15.0 14.5 14.8 14.8 15.2 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.4 15.0 14.5 14.6 14.4 14.6

Middle Quintile 18.2 18.1 18.4 18.2 17.8 17.6 17.5 17.7 18.1 17.9 18.2 18.2 18.7 18.4 18.2 18.5 18.3 18.4 17.8 18.1 18.1 18.0 18.0

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Fourth Quintile 21.6 21.6 21.7 22.2 22.1 22.0 21.6 21.2 21.8 22.0 22.5 22.2 22.1 22.0 21.5 21.8 22.1 21.6 21.0 21.1 21.3 21.2 22.0

Highest Quintile 34.8 35.2 34.9 34.8 34.2 33.3 34.3 36.0 34.7 35.1 34.7 33.8 33.3 33.3 33.7 33.0 32.9 33.3 34.6 35.1 34.9 35.6 33.9

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Top 10% 21.4 21.7 21.3 20.8 20.4 20.0 21.2 23.1 21.5 21.7 20.8 20.2 20.2 20.0 20.7 20.0 19.5 20.1 21.5 21.6 21.5 22.0 20.3

Top 5% 13.1 13.4 13.1 12.6 12.7 12.2 13.4 15.1 13.3 13.6 12.7 12.2 12.3 12.1 12.7 12.1 11.7 12.2 13.5 13.5 13.6 13.9 12.4

Top 1% 4.6 4.6 4.6 4.4 4.6 4.5 5.0 6.4 5.0 5.4 4.5 4.2 4.2 4.1 4.3 4.1 4.1 4.2 5.1 5.3 4.9 5.2 4.4

Source: Congressional Budget Office.

Effective tax rates are calculated by dividing taxes by comprehensive household income. A household consists of the people who share a housing unit, 

regardless of their relationships.

The income measure is comprehensive household income, which comprises pretax cash income plus income from other sources. Pretax cash income is the 

sum of wages, salaries, self-employment income, rents, taxable and nontaxable interest, dividends, realized capital gains, cash transfer payments, and 

retirement benefits plus taxes paid by businesses (corporate income taxes; the employer’s share of Social Security, Medicare, and federal 

unemployment insurance payroll taxes); and employees’ contributions to 401(k) retirement plans. Other sources of income include all in-kind benefits 

(Medicare, Medicaid, employer-paid health insurance premiums, food stamps, school lunches and breakfasts, housing assistance, and energy 

assistance). Households with negative income are excluded from the lowest income category but are included in totals.

Income categories are defined by ranking all people by their comprehensive household income adjusted for household size--that is, divided by the square root 

of the household’s size. Quintiles, or fifths, contain equal numbers of people.

Individual income taxes are distributed directly to households paying those taxes. Social insurance, or payroll, taxes are distributed to households paying 

those taxes directly or paying them indirectly through their employers. Corporate income taxes are distributed to households according to their share of 

capital income. Federal excise taxes are distributed to them according to their consumption of the taxed good or service.

 

Table 1C. 

Number of Households, Average Income and Income Shares, and Income Category Minimums for All Households, by Household Income Category, 1979-2001

Income 

Category 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

Number of Households (Millions)

Lowest Quintile 17.9 18.1 17.9 17.6 17.5 18.5 18.5 18.8 18.2 18.5 18.4 18.8 19.3 19.0 19.1 19.4 20.1 20.2 20.6 21.1 21.2 22.1 22.2

Second Quintile 15.8 16.1 16.3 16.3 16.8 16.8 17.3 17.3 18.4 18.7 18.8 18.6 18.6 18.9 19.2 19.6 19.3 19.8 19.8 19.8 20.0 20.8 21.1

Middle Quintile 15.0 15.2 15.7 16.0 16.4 16.6 16.8 17.3 17.8 18.1 18.3 18.4 18.9 18.9 19.1 19.7 19.7 19.8 20.2 20.7 20.9 21.6 21.6

Fourth Quintile 15.4 15.7 15.9 16.2 16.6 16.8 17.3 17.5 18.0 18.4 18.5 18.7 18.9 19.0 19.2 19.5 19.7 20.0 20.2 20.4 20.6 21.1 21.5

Highest Quintile 16.7 17.1 17.5 17.8 18.0 18.0 18.5 18.5 18.7 19.0 19.3 19.7 19.9 20.1 20.2 20.5 20.6 21.0 21.4 21.6 21.8 22.4 22.5

 All 81.1 82.6 83.8 84.3 85.8 87.2 88.8 89.9 91.4 93.1 93.6 94.6 96.0 96.3 97.3 99.1 99.7 101.1 102.6 104.0 104.8 108.3 109.4

Top 10% 8.6 8.8 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.1 9.4 9.5 9.5 9.7 9.8 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.7 10.8 10.9 11.1 11.4 11.4

Top 5% 4.3 4.4 4.6 4.6 4.6 4.6 4.8 4.8 4.8 4.8 4.9 5.0 5.1 5.1 5.2 5.2 5.2 5.4 5.4 5.4 5.5 5.7 5.7

Top 1% 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1

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Average Income (2001 dollars)

Pretax Income

Lowest Quintile 14,100 13,600 13,300 12,900 12,500 12,900 13,000 13,000 12,800 13,000 13,500 13,800 13,800 13,600 13,800 13,800 14,500 14,200 14,600 15,300 15,800 15,000 14,900

Second Quintile 30,700 29,400 29,200 28,400 27,500 29,100 29,200 29,900 28,800 29,400 29,900 30,700 30,200 30,000 30,200 30,500 31,900 31,800 32,400 33,900 34,800 34,200 34,200

Middle Quintile 46,000 44,500 43,900 43,100 42,400 44,200 45,000 46,100 45,700 46,400 47,000 46,800 46,000 46,400 46,600 46,900 48,300 48,800 49,600 50,900 51,900 51,700 51,500

Fourth Quintile 62,200 60,300 60,700 60,000 59,700 62,200 62,900 65,200 65,400 66,100 66,900 66,100 65,400 66,000 66,500 67,700 68,700 69,900 71,200 74,000 75,900 76,600 75,600

Highest Quintile 119,100 115,300 114,600 114,700 118,600 127,000 130,500 147,300 138,700 149,200 148,500 144,200 139,100 145,200 145,300 148,200 155,200 163,000 172,800 183,300 194,200 202,000 182,700

 All 53,800 52,100 52,000 51,800 52,200 54,600 56,000 60,100 58,100 60,600 61,100 60,500 58,900 60,500 60,700 61,500 63,800 65,900 68,600 71,900 75,000 76,200 71,800

Top 10% 155,200 150,100 148,400 149,900 157,200 170,300 176,200 203,700 187,700 206,200 204,100 196,800 187,900 199,000 197,500 202,900 213,300 227,900 245,500 263,400 280,400 294,300 259,000

Top 5% 211,200 201,200 197,900 202,600 213,600 234,400 244,100 293,900 260,500 295,900 288,700 277,100 260,100 282,100 276,400 285,500 306,300 328,200 361,800 394,400 420,200 446,400 379,800

Top 1% 466,800 440,400 437,800 457,200 501,000 552,100 593,500 772,500 624,200 786,400 731,900 702,500 633,000 718,000 689,800 711,400 783,900 864,400 991,500 1,113,500 1,211,800 1,326,900 1,050,100

After-Tax Income

Lowest Quintile 13,000 12,500 12,200 11,800 11,300 11,600 11,700 11,700 11,600 11,900 12,400 12,600 12,700 12,500 12,700 12,900 13,600 13,400 13,700 14,400 14,800 14,100 14,100

Second Quintile 26,300 25,300 24,900 24,500 23,700 24,800 24,800 25,500 24,800 25,200 25,800 26,200 25,900 25,900 26,200 26,500 27,700 27,600 28,000 29,500 30,200 29,800 30,200

Middle Quintile 37,400 36,100 35,500 35,300 35,000 36,300 36,800 37,800 37,700 38,100 38,600 38,400 37,900 38,300 38,500 38,800 39,900 40,400 41,000 42,300 43,200 43,000 43,700

Fourth Quintile 49,000 47,400 47,300 47,600 47,700 49,600 50,100 51,900 52,200 52,500 53,200 52,500 52,000 52,700 53,100 53,900 54,700 55,700 56,600 58,900 60,300 60,900 61,000

Highest Quintile 86,300 83,800 83,700 86,700 90,300 96,200 99,200 112,300 102,900 111,000 111,000 107,900 103,800 108,100 106,400 107,700 112,000 117,300 124,400 132,700 139,800 145,400 133,700

 All 41,800 40,500 40,300 41,100 41,600 43,200 44,300 47,500 45,500 47,400 48,000 47,500 46,200 47,500 47,300 47,800 49,400 50,900 52,800 55,600 57,800 58,600 56,300

Top 10% 109,300 106,500 106,500 112,000 118,200 127,400 132,600 154,300 136,600 151,200 150,500 145,400 138,000 145,500 141,000 143,300 149,600 159,400 172,100 186,200 197,100 207,000 184,900

Top 5% 144,000 139,300 139,700 149,800 158,900 173,200 182,200 221,500 186,200 213,800 210,300 202,200 188,300 202,800 192,200 196,000 208,800 223,100 247,400 272,800 289,300 307,700 265,300

Top 1% 294,300 288,100 298,500 330,800 362,000 396,300 433,300 575,500 429,400 552,900 520,600 500,400 444,000 498,400 452,000 457,000 500,700 553,200 645,300 741,200 805,700 886,800 703,100

Share of Income (Percent)

Pretax Income

Lowest Quintile 5.8 5.7 5.5 5.2 4.9 5.0 4.8 4.5 4.4 4.3 4.3 4.6 4.7 4.4 4.5 4.4 4.6 4.3 4.3 4.3 4.2 4.0 4.2

Second Quintile 11.1 11.0 10.9 10.6 10.3 10.3 10.1 9.6 10.0 9.7 9.8 10.0 10.0 9.7 9.8 9.8 9.7 9.4 9.1 9.0 8.9 8.6 9.2

Middle Quintile 15.8 15.7 15.9 15.7 15.5 15.4 15.2 14.7 15.3 14.9 15.1 15.1 15.4 15.1 15.0 15.2 14.9 14.5 14.2 14.1 13.8 13.5 14.2

Fourth Quintile 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.2 22.2 22.0 21.9 21.2 22.1 21.6 21.6 21.6 21.8 21.5 21.6 21.6 21.3 21.0 20.4 20.2 19.9 19.6 20.7

Highest Quintile 45.5 45.8 46.0 46.7 47.7 48.0 48.6 50.6 48.9 50.3 49.9 49.5 49.0 50.0 49.8 49.8 50.2 51.5 52.6 53.0 53.8 54.8 52.4

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Top 10% 30.5 30.6 30.7 31.1 32.2 32.6 33.4 35.8 33.5 35.3 34.8 34.4 33.7 34.9 34.6 34.6 35.2 36.5 37.8 38.4 39.4 40.6 37.6

Top 5% 20.7 20.7 20.7 21.1 22.2 22.6 23.4 26.0 23.4 25.4 24.8 24.3 23.6 24.7 24.4 24.5 25.1 26.5 27.8 28.5 29.6 30.7 27.5

Top 1% 9.3 9.1 9.1 9.6 10.3 10.9 11.5 14.0 11.2 13.3 12.5 12.1 11.2 12.3 11.9 12.1 12.5 13.8 14.9 15.7 16.7 17.8 14.8

After-Tax Income

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Lowest Quintile 6.8 6.8 6.5 6.0 5.5 5.7 5.5 5.2 5.1 5.0 5.1 5.3 5.5 5.2 5.3 5.3 5.5 5.3 5.2 5.3 5.2 4.9 5.1

Second Quintile 12.3 12.1 12.0 11.5 11.2 11.1 10.9 10.3 10.9 10.7 10.8 10.8 10.9 10.7 10.9 11.0 10.9 10.6 10.2 10.1 10.0 9.7 10.3

Middle Quintile 16.5 16.5 16.5 16.3 16.1 16.0 15.8 15.3 16.1 15.6 15.7 15.8 16.2 15.9 16.0 16.1 15.9 15.6 15.3 15.1 14.9 14.6 15.3

Fourth Quintile 22.3 22.3 22.3 22.3 22.3 22.2 22.0 21.3 22.5 21.9 21.9 21.9 22.1 21.9 22.1 22.2 21.9 21.6 21.1 20.8 20.5 20.2 21.3

Highest Quintile 42.4 42.8 43.3 44.6 45.7 46.0 46.7 48.7 46.3 47.9 47.6 47.3 46.5 47.4 46.8 46.5 46.8 48.0 49.1 49.6 50.2 51.3 48.9

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Top 10% 27.6 27.9 28.4 29.4 30.5 30.9 31.7 34.3 31.1 33.1 32.7 32.3 31.5 32.5 31.7 31.4 31.9 33.1 34.4 35.1 36.0 37.1 34.2

Top 5% 18.1 18.4 18.9 19.7 20.7 21.2 22.0 24.8 21.3 23.5 23.0 22.6 21.7 22.7 21.8 21.6 22.1 23.3 24.6 25.4 26.5 27.5 24.5

Top 1% 7.5 7.7 8.0 8.7 9.4 9.9 10.6 13.2 9.9 12.0 11.3 11.0 10.0 10.9 10.0 10.0 10.3 11.4 12.6 13.5 14.4 15.5 12.6

Minimum Adjusted Income (2001 dollars)

Lowest Quintile 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Second Quintile 14,800 14,200 14,000 13,600 13,000 13,800 13,900 14,100 13,600 13,900 14,300 14,600 14,600 14,200 14,400 14,600 15,300 15,000 15,400 16,200 16,600 16,200 16,300

Middle Quintile 23,400 22,700 22,500 22,000 21,800 22,700 23,100 23,800 23,700 24,200 24,600 24,600 24,100 24,200 24,300 24,700 25,500 25,800 26,100 27,100 27,700 27,500 27,600

Fourth Quintile 32,100 31,200 31,500 31,100 31,100 32,500 33,000 34,100 34,300 35,000 35,400 35,200 34,800 35,100 35,100 35,900 36,500 37,000 37,600 39,000 39,800 40,000 39,800

Highest Quintile 44,800 43,800 44,200 44,200 44,600 46,400 47,100 49,200 49,800 50,800 51,500 50,800 50,000 50,700 51,100 51,900 53,200 54,300 55,600 57,700 59,400 60,000 59,400

Top 10% 57,300 56,600 56,700 57,000 57,700 60,800 61,900 64,800 65,700 67,300 68,300 67,100 66,100 67,300 67,700 68,700 71,100 73,100 75,300 78,500 80,800 82,300 80,300

Top 5% 72,700 71,100 71,800 71,400 73,100 77,200 79,200 84,100 84,000 86,400 88,500 87,100 85,600 88,300 88,000 89,900 93,600 96,300 101,000 105,400 108,600 111,400 107,300

Top 1% 142,200 138,000 136,000 136,700 142,700 152,600 158,700 184,300 172,900 186,100 188,700 180,000 176,500 186,700 183,600 189,200 201,200 212,400 225,500 240,600 256,600 264,300 238,000

Source: Congressional Budget Office.

Effective tax rates are calculated by dividing taxes by comprehensive household income. A household consists of the people who share a housing unit, 

regardless of their relationships.

The income measure is comprehensive household income, which comprises pretax cash income plus income from other sources. Pretax cash income is the 

sum of wages, salaries, self-employment income, rents, taxable and nontaxable interest, dividends, realized capital gains, cash transfer payments, and 

retirement benefits plus taxes paid by businesses (corporate income taxes; the employer’s share of Social Security, Medicare, and federal 

unemployment insurance payroll taxes); and employees’ contributions to 401(k) retirement plans. Other sources of income include all in-kind benefits 

(Medicare, Medicaid, employer-paid health insurance premiums, food stamps, school lunches and breakfasts, housing assistance, and energy 

assistance). Households with negative income are excluded from the lowest income category but are included in totals.

Income categories are defined by ranking all people by their comprehensive household income adjusted for household size--that is, divided by the square root 

of the household’s size. Quintiles, or fifths, contain equal numbers of people.

Individual income taxes are distributed directly to households paying those taxes. Social insurance, or payroll, taxes are distributed to households paying 

those taxes directly or paying them indirectly through their employers. Corporate income taxes are distributed to households according to their share of 

capital income. Federal excise taxes are distributed to them according to their consumption of the taxed good or service.

The minimum adjusted income is the lower income boundary for each quintile.

 

Table 2A. 

Effective Federal Tax Rates for Households with Children, by Comprehensive Household Income Quintile, 1979-2001

Income 

Category 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

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Total Effective Federal Tax Rate

Lowest Quintile 9.1 8.9 9.8 9.6 10.2 11.8 11.1 10.9 8.8 8.5 7.8 9.1 8.3 7.7 7.5 5.5 4.7 3.8 3.9 3.9 4.3 5.1 3.4

Second Quintile 15.8 15.9 16.9 16.1 16.2 17.0 17.1 17.1 16.4 16.6 16.0 16.8 16.1 15.4 15.2 14.5 14.7 14.4 14.9 13.9 14.1 13.8 12.2

Middle Quintile 19.4 19.7 20.7 19.8 19.4 19.8 20.0 20.1 19.4 19.8 19.8 19.9 19.8 19.5 19.2 19.3 19.2 19.1 19.4 18.4 18.6 18.2 16.8

Fourth Quintile 21.3 21.9 22.9 21.8 21.2 21.5 21.6 21.7 21.1 21.5 21.5 21.7 21.7 21.4 21.4 21.5 21.5 21.5 21.7 21.1 21.1 21.1 20.0

Highest Quintile 25.9 26.0 25.9 23.7 23.6 23.5 23.2 23.3 25.4 24.9 24.8 24.7 25.3 25.4 27.1 27.5 28.1 28.3 28.3 28.1 28.6 28.8 27.7

 All 21.1 21.3 22.0 20.7 20.6 21.0 20.9 21.1 21.4 21.5 21.3 21.3 21.4 21.2 21.9 21.9 22.2 22.1 22.4 22.1 22.5 22.9 21.4

Top 10% 28.0 27.6 26.9 24.2 24.3 24.3 23.7 23.7 26.8 26.0 25.8 25.5 26.5 26.7 29.2 29.6 30.3 30.4 30.4 30.0 30.5 30.6 29.7

Top 5% 29.9 29.2 27.8 24.6 25.0 25.0 24.2 24.0 28.0 27.0 26.7 26.4 27.6 27.8 31.0 31.7 32.3 32.5 32.2 31.5 32.0 32.0 31.3

Top 1% 34.4 31.9 29.7 25.6 27.0 27.0 25.6 24.9 30.7 28.7 28.2 28.2 29.7 30.3 35.0 36.1 36.7 36.4 35.5 34.1 34.2 33.8 33.8

Effective Individual Income Tax Rate

Lowest Quintile -0.5 -0.3 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.5 0.2 0.2 -1.2 -2.1 -3.0 -2.0 -3.1 -3.8 -4.1 -6.2 -7.6 -8.5 -8.8 -9.1 -8.9 -7.9 -9.6

Second Quintile 4.8 5.2 5.7 5.0 4.6 4.8 4.7 4.7 3.8 3.6 3.2 3.8 3.1 2.6 2.4 1.7 1.7 1.4 1.8 0.9 0.9 0.8 -0.7

Middle Quintile 8.2 8.7 9.2 8.4 7.6 7.5 7.4 7.4 6.5 6.6 6.6 6.6 6.5 6.2 6.0 5.9 5.9 5.9 6.1 5.1 5.1 4.9 3.6

Fourth Quintile 10.6 11.3 11.8 10.7 9.7 9.5 9.4 9.5 8.6 8.7 8.7 8.7 8.5 8.2 8.2 8.2 8.1 8.3 8.5 7.9 7.8 7.9 6.9

Highest Quintile 15.8 16.5 16.6 15.1 14.4 14.0 13.7 14.3 15.5 15.2 15.1 14.7 14.7 14.9 16.1 15.9 16.7 17.2 17.5 17.7 18.4 18.8 17.6

 All 10.4 11.0 11.4 10.3 9.8 9.7 9.5 10.0 9.8 9.7 9.6 9.3 9.2 9.1 9.6 9.3 9.7 9.8 10.1 10.0 10.5 11.2 9.5

Top 10% 17.7 18.4 18.2 16.7 16.1 15.6 15.2 15.9 17.9 17.4 17.1 16.7 17.0 17.3 18.8 18.7 19.5 20.1 20.2 20.4 21.2 21.5 20.5

Top 5% 19.2 19.9 19.4 17.9 17.4 17.0 16.4 17.0 19.8 19.2 18.8 18.3 18.9 19.3 21.3 21.1 21.9 22.6 22.5 22.5 23.3 23.6 22.9

Top 1% 21.5 21.4 20.6 19.2 19.5 19.1 18.2 18.3 22.8 21.5 20.8 20.7 21.9 22.6 25.7 25.3 26.0 26.3 25.8 25.2 25.8 25.8 25.7

Effective Social Insurance Tax Rate

Lowest Quintile 7.3 7.2 7.9 7.7 7.6 8.5 8.4 8.4 7.8 8.4 8.7 9.0 8.9 8.9 8.8 8.8 9.4 9.6 10.0 10.4 10.4 10.5 10.6

Second Quintile 9.2 9.1 9.9 9.8 10.0 10.5 10.7 10.8 10.9 11.3 11.2 11.4 11.2 11.0 10.9 10.9 11.0 11.0 11.3 11.3 11.3 11.2 11.3

Middle Quintile 9.5 9.5 10.3 10.3 10.5 10.9 11.2 11.4 11.4 11.8 11.8 11.9 11.8 11.8 11.6 11.7 11.7 11.7 11.8 11.9 11.9 11.8 11.8

Fourth Quintile 8.9 9.1 9.9 10.1 10.2 10.6 10.9 11.0 11.1 11.5 11.4 11.7 11.9 11.8 11.7 11.7 11.7 11.7 11.8 11.8 11.7 11.8 11.9

Highest Quintile 5.3 5.5 6.2 6.6 6.5 6.7 6.9 6.2 6.8 6.7 6.8 7.3 8.0 7.7 7.7 8.0 7.6 7.4 7.2 7.0 6.8 6.5 7.2

 All 7.8 7.9 8.6 8.8 8.8 9.1 9.4 9.0 9.4 9.6 9.6 9.9 10.2 10.0 9.9 10.1 9.8 9.8 9.7 9.6 9.4 9.2 9.7

Top 10% 3.8 4.0 4.5 4.9 4.8 4.9 5.2 4.3 5.0 4.9 5.0 5.5 6.3 5.9 6.1 6.6 5.9 5.8 5.6 5.4 5.2 4.9 5.6

Top 5% 2.6 2.8 3.0 3.5 3.4 3.5 3.7 2.8 3.6 3.4 3.5 4.0 4.8 4.4 4.7 5.3 4.6 4.4 4.3 4.1 3.9 3.7 4.2

Top 1% 1.0 1.1 1.4 1.7 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.0 1.7 1.4 1.5 1.8 2.4 1.9 2.1 3.1 2.5 2.5 2.3 2.2 2.1 2.0 2.4

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Effective Corporate Income Tax Rate

Lowest Quintile 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.2

Second Quintile 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.2

Middle Quintile 0.7 0.6 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.3

Fourth Quintile 0.9 0.8 0.6 0.3 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.4

Highest Quintile 4.2 3.3 2.6 1.5 2.0 2.2 1.9 2.2 2.5 2.4 2.4 2.1 2.0 2.2 2.7 2.8 3.2 3.1 3.1 2.9 2.9 3.0 2.3

 All 1.9 1.6 1.3 0.7 1.0 1.1 1.0 1.1 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.4 1.5 1.7 1.6 1.7 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.2

Top 10% 5.9 4.7 3.8 2.1 2.9 3.1 2.7 3.0 3.4 3.2 3.2 2.9 2.7 3.0 3.7 3.8 4.3 4.1 4.1 3.7 3.7 3.7 3.1

Top 5% 7.6 6.0 4.9 2.8 3.7 4.0 3.5 3.8 4.2 4.0 4.0 3.6 3.4 3.7 4.6 4.8 5.3 5.1 5.0 4.5 4.5 4.4 3.8

Top 1% 11.5 9.0 7.5 4.5 5.6 6.0 5.3 5.3 5.8 5.5 5.6 5.4 5.1 5.5 6.9 7.4 7.8 7.3 7.1 6.3 6.0 5.8 5.5

Effective Excise Tax Rate

Lowest Quintile 1.6 1.4 1.3 1.4 2.1 2.5 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.8 1.7 1.8 2.1 2.2 2.4 2.5 2.4 2.3 2.4 2.2 2.4 2.2 2.2

Second Quintile 1.2 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.3 1.4 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.2 1.4 1.5 1.5 1.6 1.5 1.5 1.4 1.4 1.5 1.4 1.4

Middle Quintile 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 0.9 0.9 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.2 1.2 1.1 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1

Fourth Quintile 0.9 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.8 0.9 0.9 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.9 0.9 0.9 1.0 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.8 0.9 0.9 0.9

Highest Quintile 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.5 0.6

 All 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.0 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.1 1.0 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.8 0.9

Top 10% 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.5

Top 5% 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.4

Top 1% 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2

Source: Congressional Budget Office.

Effective tax rates are calculated by dividing taxes by comprehensive household income. A household consists of the people who share a housing unit, 

regardless of their relationships. A household with children has at least one member under age 18.

The income measure is comprehensive household income, which comprises pretax cash income plus income from other sources. Pretax cash income is the 

sum of wages, salaries, self-employment income, rents, taxable and nontaxable interest, dividends, realized capital gains, cash transfer payments, and 

retirement benefits plus taxes paid by businesses (corporate income taxes; the employer’s share of Social Security, Medicare, and federal 

unemployment insurance payroll taxes); and employees’ contributions to 401(k) retirement plans. Other sources of income include all in-kind benefits 

(Medicare, Medicaid, employer-paid health insurance premiums, food stamps, school lunches and breakfasts, housing assistance, and energy 

assistance). Households with negative income are excluded from the lowest income category but are included in totals.

Income categories are defined by ranking all people by their comprehensive household income adjusted for household size--that is, divided by the square root 

of the household’s size. Quintiles, or fifths, contain equal numbers of people.

Individual income taxes are distributed directly to households paying those taxes. Social insurance, or payroll, taxes are distributed to households paying 

those taxes directly or paying them indirectly through their employers. Corporate income taxes are distributed to households according to their share of 

capital income. Federal excise taxes are distributed to them according to their consumption of the taxed good or service.

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Table 2B. 

Shares of Federal Tax Liabilities for Households with Children, by Comprehensive Household Income Quintile, 1979-2001

Income 

Category 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

Share of Total Federal Tax Liabilities

Lowest Quintile 2.7 2.7 2.8 3.0 3.2 3.4 3.3 3.0 2.5 2.3 2.2 2.7 2.5 2.2 2.1 1.5 1.3 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.1 1.2 0.9

Second Quintile 10.3 10.3 10.7 10.7 10.4 10.6 10.8 10.3 9.4 9.5 9.2 10.4 9.9 9.3 8.7 8.3 8.3 8.1 8.1 7.5 7.3 6.6 6.7

Middle Quintile 19.0 19.1 19.4 19.8 18.5 18.4 18.6 17.4 17.2 17.3 17.4 17.6 17.2 16.8 15.7 15.9 14.9 15.0 14.6 13.7 13.0 12.0 12.5

Fourth Quintile 25.9 26.1 26.9 27.5 25.9 25.6 25.7 24.5 24.2 24.4 24.4 24.7 24.5 24.1 23.2 23.5 21.9 22.1 21.8 21.0 20.1 19.3 20.2

Highest Quintile 42.0 41.6 40.0 38.9 41.8 41.8 41.4 44.7 46.5 46.1 46.5 44.3 45.8 47.5 50.1 50.6 53.4 53.6 54.3 56.7 58.4 60.8 59.6

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Top 10% 27.4 26.8 24.9 23.8 26.8 27.2 26.6 30.3 31.7 31.4 32.1 29.6 30.5 32.1 35.6 36.0 38.6 39.8 40.7 42.9 44.7 47.2 45.1

Top 5% 19.6 18.7 17.1 16.2 19.2 19.5 18.4 22.5 23.3 23.5 23.7 21.7 22.1 23.8 27.2 27.1 30.1 31.1 31.9 34.2 35.9 38.4 35.5

Top 1% 9.4 9.0 8.6 7.5 10.3 10.5 9.2 13.2 12.8 13.1 13.1 10.8 11.4 12.4 15.5 15.1 17.6 18.5 18.8 20.5 22.2 24.8 22.2

Share of Individual Income Tax Liabilities

Lowest Quintile -0.3 -0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.3 0.1 0.1 -0.8 -1.3 -1.9 -1.4 -2.1 -2.5 -2.6 -4.0 -4.7 -5.1 -5.2 -5.4 -4.8 -3.7 -5.5

Second Quintile 6.3 6.6 6.9 6.7 6.2 6.5 6.5 6.0 4.7 4.5 4.0 5.3 4.5 3.7 3.1 2.3 2.2 1.8 2.1 1.1 1.0 0.8 -0.9

Middle Quintile 16.3 16.4 16.7 16.7 15.2 15.1 15.1 13.5 12.6 12.7 12.9 13.4 13.1 12.3 11.2 11.4 10.4 10.4 10.2 8.3 7.6 6.6 6.1

Fourth Quintile 26.1 26.1 26.8 26.9 24.8 24.4 24.5 22.5 21.5 21.8 22.0 22.5 22.3 21.5 20.3 21.1 19.1 19.2 18.8 17.3 16.0 14.9 15.5

Highest Quintile 51.6 51.1 49.5 49.6 53.7 53.7 53.7 57.9 61.9 62.3 63.0 60.1 62.2 64.9 68.0 69.2 72.9 73.7 74.1 78.8 80.2 81.4 84.8

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Top 10% 35.2 34.6 32.6 32.9 37.2 37.9 37.5 42.9 46.1 46.6 47.4 44.1 45.7 48.6 52.6 53.4 57.4 59.3 59.9 64.5 66.5 68.1 70.0

Top 5% 25.6 24.7 23.2 23.6 28.0 28.7 27.4 33.7 36.0 37.1 37.1 34.3 35.4 38.3 42.7 42.5 47.1 48.8 49.4 53.9 55.9 58.0 58.3

Top 1% 11.9 11.7 11.5 11.2 15.6 16.1 14.5 20.4 20.9 21.7 21.5 18.1 19.6 21.5 26.0 24.9 28.7 30.1 30.2 33.5 36.0 38.8 37.8

Share of Social Insurance Tax Liabilities

Lowest Quintile 6.0 5.9 5.8 5.6 5.6 5.6 5.5 5.4 5.0 5.2 5.4 5.7 5.6 5.4 5.3 5.2 5.7 5.9 6.1 6.4 6.3 6.0 6.0

Second Quintile 16.2 16.0 15.9 15.3 14.9 15.1 15.1 15.1 14.2 14.5 14.3 15.1 14.4 14.1 13.9 13.6 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.0 13.9 13.3 13.8

Middle Quintile 25.1 25.0 24.5 24.1 23.4 23.1 23.2 22.9 23.0 23.1 23.1 22.6 21.5 21.6 21.1 21.0 20.4 20.8 20.5 20.2 20.0 19.4 19.4

Fourth Quintile 29.3 29.2 29.5 29.7 29.1 28.9 28.7 28.9 29.1 29.2 28.9 28.5 28.1 28.1 28.1 27.9 27.1 27.4 27.4 27.0 26.8 26.9 26.5

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Highest Quintile 23.3 23.9 24.2 25.2 26.9 27.2 27.3 27.5 28.6 27.9 28.2 28.0 30.3 30.6 31.4 32.3 32.6 31.7 31.8 32.3 33.0 34.3 34.3

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Top 10% 9.9 10.5 10.5 11.3 12.4 12.7 12.9 12.7 13.6 13.1 13.8 13.5 15.2 15.0 16.4 17.3 17.1 17.1 17.4 17.6 18.1 19.0 18.8

Top 5% 4.5 4.8 4.7 5.4 6.1 6.2 6.2 6.1 6.8 6.6 6.9 7.0 8.1 8.0 9.1 9.8 9.7 9.6 9.9 10.3 10.5 11.2 10.6

Top 1% 0.7 0.9 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.2 1.6 1.4 1.6 1.5 1.9 1.7 2.0 2.8 2.7 2.8 2.9 3.1 3.3 3.7 3.5

Share of Corporate Income Tax Liabilities

Lowest Quintile 2.1 2.3 2.4 2.9 2.4 2.3 2.3 1.8 2.0 2.1 2.0 1.8 2.1 2.0 1.7 1.6 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.1 1.0 1.0

Second Quintile 4.3 4.4 4.8 5.6 5.0 3.9 4.7 3.5 4.5 4.2 4.2 4.4 4.8 4.3 3.6 3.4 3.6 3.3 3.0 2.6 2.7 2.3 1.9

Middle Quintile 7.1 7.3 7.4 8.1 6.5 6.5 7.0 5.7 6.9 7.1 5.9 6.7 7.1 6.9 5.3 5.7 4.8 5.1 4.8 4.2 4.3 3.7 3.4

Fourth Quintile 12.2 12.6 12.1 12.1 11.2 11.0 11.1 8.6 11.1 10.7 10.3 11.2 10.7 9.8 9.1 9.5 8.6 8.5 8.7 8.0 7.6 7.1 6.2

Highest Quintile 73.6 72.1 71.9 69.3 73.0 74.1 73.1 79.3 73.1 72.7 74.2 72.9 72.1 75.1 78.4 77.8 79.5 80.1 80.7 82.6 83.1 84.7 86.0

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Top 10% 62.9 61.4 61.6 59.5 63.8 65.6 63.9 72.2 64.2 64.4 65.4 62.8 62.5 66.6 70.1 69.6 71.9 72.7 73.5 76.3 76.1 78.2 80.1

Top 5% 53.9 52.3 53.6 51.7 57.0 57.9 56.4 65.7 55.6 57.3 57.9 56.0 54.6 58.9 62.6 62.1 65.5 66.1 66.3 69.8 69.7 71.8 74.3

Top 1% 34.0 34.5 37.7 36.6 42.5 43.3 40.9 51.8 38.8 41.7 43.0 38.9 38.8 42.0 47.3 46.8 49.4 50.3 50.4 54.4 54.8 57.8 61.7

Share of Federal Excise Tax Liabilities

Lowest Quintile 10.9 11.1 11.2 11.8 14.4 14.7 14.1 12.7 12.1 11.7 12.3 13.0 13.5 13.2 14.3 13.9 13.7 14.4 15.4 14.9 14.2 13.2 13.2

Second Quintile 17.8 17.9 18.0 18.0 17.7 18.0 17.9 17.8 17.2 17.8 17.3 18.1 18.3 19.0 18.5 18.0 18.5 19.7 18.9 18.3 18.5 17.9 18.0

Middle Quintile 22.5 22.4 22.3 22.7 20.8 20.2 20.0 20.4 21.1 21.1 21.1 20.7 20.8 20.5 19.8 20.0 19.8 19.9 19.6 19.5 19.1 18.9 18.8

Fourth Quintile 23.9 23.3 23.6 24.2 22.5 22.4 22.3 22.1 22.7 22.5 23.1 22.4 22.1 22.4 21.9 22.2 21.6 21.1 20.5 20.7 21.2 21.2 21.5

Highest Quintile 24.2 24.4 23.8 22.7 23.8 24.0 25.0 26.3 26.3 26.5 25.8 25.3 24.9 24.5 24.9 25.3 25.9 24.5 25.1 26.2 26.9 28.4 28.2

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Top 10% 13.1 13.5 12.8 12.0 12.7 13.4 14.2 15.1 15.0 14.9 14.2 14.2 14.2 13.4 14.2 14.6 14.2 14.0 15.2 15.5 15.5 16.5 16.3

Top 5% 7.9 8.1 7.6 7.0 7.8 8.4 8.9 9.5 9.0 9.2 8.4 8.8 8.8 8.1 8.6 8.6 8.7 8.4 9.4 9.8 9.7 10.3 9.8

Top 1% 2.5 2.8 3.0 2.3 3.1 3.8 3.7 4.1 3.6 3.8 3.2 3.0 3.3 2.7 3.0 3.0 3.2 3.0 3.5 3.9 3.4 3.7 3.8

Source: Congressional Budget Office.

Effective tax rates are calculated by dividing taxes by comprehensive household income. A household consists of the people who share a housing unit, 

regardless of their relationships. A household with children has at least one member under age 18.

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The income measure is comprehensive household income, which comprises pretax cash income plus income from other sources. Pretax cash income is the 

sum of wages, salaries, self-employment income, rents, taxable and nontaxable interest, dividends, realized capital gains, cash transfer payments, and 

retirement benefits plus taxes paid by businesses (corporate income taxes; the employer’s share of Social Security, Medicare, and federal 

unemployment insurance payroll taxes); and employees’ contributions to 401(k) retirement plans. Other sources of income include all in-kind benefits 

(Medicare, Medicaid, employer-paid health insurance premiums, food stamps, school lunches and breakfasts, housing assistance, and energy 

assistance). Households with negative income are excluded from the lowest income category but are included in totals.

Income categories are defined by ranking all people by their comprehensive household income adjusted for household size--that is, divided by the square root 

of the household’s size. Quintiles, or fifths, contain equal numbers of people.

Individual income taxes are distributed directly to households paying those taxes. Social insurance, or payroll, taxes are distributed to households paying 

those taxes directly or paying them indirectly through their employers. Corporate income taxes are distributed to households according to their share of 

capital income. Federal excise taxes are distributed to them according to their consumption of the taxed good or service.

 

Table 2C. 

Number of Households, Average Pretax and After-Tax Income, Shares of Pretax and After-Tax Income, and Income Category Minimums for Households 

with Children, by Comprehensive Household Income Category, 1979-2001

Income 

Category 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

Number of Households (Millions)

Lowest 

Quintile 6.5 6.7 6.8 7.0 7.4 7.2 7.6 7.7 8.2 8.1 8.0 8.0 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.4 8.3 8.6 8.5 8.6 8.5 8.6 8.8

Second 

Quintile 7.1 7.2 7.2 7.2 7.2 7.2 7.4 7.5 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.7 7.9 8.1 8.3 8.3 8.4 8.6 8.6 8.5 8.5 8.6 8.8

Middle 

Quintile 7.4 7.4 7.3 7.2 7.1 7.2 7.2 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.3 7.3 7.3 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.5 7.7 7.7 7.6 7.5 7.7 7.7

Fourth 

Quintile 6.8 6.7 6.6 6.6 6.5 6.6 6.6 6.6 6.6 6.7 6.7 6.7 6.7 6.8 7.1 7.1 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.1 7.2 7.4 7.2

Highest 

Quintile 4.8 4.7 4.7 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.2 5.3 5.6 5.6 5.8 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 6.2 6.1

 All 32.6 33.0 32.8 32.8 33.0 33.2 33.9 34.2 34.3 34.6 34.6 34.9 35.3 35.9 36.9 37.2 37.1 37.6 37.8 37.6 37.6 38.5 38.7

Top 10% 2.1 2.1 2.0 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.3 2.2 2.3 2.3 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.6 2.7 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.9

Top 5% 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.3 1.3 1.4 1.3 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.5 1.5

Top 1% 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3

Average Income (2001 dollars)

Pretax Income

Lowest 

Quintile 19,600 18,500 17,900 17,100 16,400 16,900 17,000 16,800 16,000 16,300 17,100 17,900 18,000 17,600 18,200 18,000 19,300 18,900 19,700 20,800 21,300 20,500 19,900

Second 

Quintile 38,600 37,000 36,800 35,800 34,800 36,700 37,000 37,800 37,100 37,800 38,300 39,000 38,100 37,500 37,600 38,200 39,800 39,400 40,400 42,100 43,400 42,800 42,700

Middle 

Quintile 55,800 53,800 53,800 53,000 52,600 54,600 55,800 57,400 57,200 58,100 59,100 58,800 58,000 57,900 58,100 59,200 61,000 61,400 62,500 64,600 66,500 66,200 66,200

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Fourth 

Quintile 75,100 73,200 73,900 73,300 73,200 76,300 77,300 80,100 80,600 82,000 83,100 82,800 81,600 82,400 82,900 84,600 86,300 87,600 89,600 93,100 95,100 96,100 95,600

Highest 

Quintile 142,800 139,300 139,100 138,300 145,900 155,200 154,900 181,800 170,500 180,300 183,000 173,600 168,900 175,100 180,700 181,100 194,600 206,900 217,100 234,800 249,700 265,000 239,700

 All 61,200 58,600 58,100 56,600 57,200 60,600 60,900 65,800 63,400 65,100 66,800 65,400 64,500 65,600 67,200 67,900 71,900 72,400 75,400 80,000 84,400 87,600 82,600

Top 10% 195,300 190,600 192,500 190,900 207,800 220,600 217,000 271,700 243,600 264,700 264,700 246,500 239,900 252,400 259,700 256,800 282,800 300,800 317,800 350,400 379,400 409,600 355,700

Top 5% 264,300 261,500 267,100 259,700 289,800 310,100 306,500 408,500 343,600 380,100 380,700 340,000 334,900 357,000 366,900 363,700 400,200 436,800 463,200 512,800 574,000 624,900 535,000

Top 1% 558,400 530,200 549,500 556,000 646,000 716,000 699,700 1,114,900 779,800 953,300 911,700 767,600 739,000 858,400 911,300 835,500 1,003,300 1,085,700 1,198,100 1,360,600 1,624,300 1,849,400 1,409,100

After-Tax Income

Lowest 

Quintile 17,800 16,900 16,200 15,400 14,700 14,900 15,100 15,000 14,600 14,900 15,800 16,300 16,500 16,200 16,900 17,000 18,400 18,200 19,000 20,000 20,400 19,400 19,300

Second 

Quintile 32,500 31,200 30,600 30,000 29,100 30,500 30,600 31,300 31,000 31,500 32,200 32,500 31,900 31,700 31,900 32,600 34,000 33,800 34,400 36,300 37,300 36,900 37,500

Middle 

Quintile 45,000 43,200 42,600 42,500 42,400 43,800 44,600 45,800 46,100 46,500 47,400 47,100 46,500 46,600 47,000 47,700 49,300 49,700 50,400 52,700 54,100 54,100 55,000

Fourth 

Quintile 59,100 57,200 57,000 57,300 57,700 59,900 60,700 62,700 63,600 64,400 65,300 64,900 63,900 64,800 65,200 66,400 67,800 68,800 70,100 73,500 75,100 75,800 76,500

Highest 

Quintile 105,800 103,100 103,100 105,600 111,500 118,700 118,900 139,500 127,200 135,400 137,600 130,800 126,200 130,600 131,800 131,300 140,000 148,400 155,600 168,800 178,300 188,700 173,200

 All 48,300 46,100 45,300 44,900 45,400 47,900 48,200 51,900 49,900 51,100 52,600 51,500 50,700 51,700 52,500 53,000 56,000 56,400 58,500 62,300 65,400 67,500 65,000

Top 10% 140,700 138,000 140,700 144,800 157,200 167,100 165,600 207,400 178,200 195,900 196,500 183,600 176,300 185,000 184,000 180,800 197,200 209,300 221,200 245,300 263,600 284,200 250,100

Top 5% 185,300 185,200 192,900 195,700 217,200 232,700 232,500 310,300 247,300 277,500 279,100 250,300 242,300 257,600 253,000 248,500 271,100 294,900 314,100 351,200 390,100 424,800 367,600

Top 1% 366,400 361,200 386,100 413,500 471,800 522,800 520,800 837,600 540,500 679,400 654,700 551,100 519,600 598,200 592,300 533,900 635,500 690,900 772,800 896,900 1,069,100 1,223,500 932,500

Share of Income (Percent)

Pretax Income

Lowest 

Quintile 6.3 6.4 6.4 6.5 6.4 6.1 6.2 5.8 6.0 5.9 5.9 6.3 6.3 6.1 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 5.9 5.9 5.7 5.2 5.5

Second 

Quintile 13.7 13.9 13.9 13.8 13.2 13.2 13.2 12.6 12.2 12.3 12.2 13.1 13.1 12.8 12.6 12.5 12.6 12.5 12.2 11.9 11.6 10.9 11.8

Middle 

Quintile 20.6 20.7 20.6 20.6 19.7 19.4 19.4 18.2 18.9 18.8 18.7 18.9 18.5 18.3 17.9 18.0 17.2 17.4 16.9 16.3 15.8 15.1 15.9

Fourth 

Quintile 25.6 25.4 25.8 26.0 25.1 24.9 24.8 23.7 24.6 24.4 24.2 24.2 24.1 23.8 23.7 23.9 22.7 22.8 22.5 21.9 21.5 21.0 21.6

Highest 

Quintile 34.1 34.1 34.0 33.9 36.5 37.3 37.1 40.4 39.1 39.7 39.9 38.2 38.7 39.6 40.5 40.4 42.2 42.0 43.0 44.5 46.0 48.4 45.9

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Top 10% 20.7 20.7 20.4 20.4 22.6 23.6 23.4 27.0 25.3 25.9 26.5 24.6 24.7 25.6 26.7 26.6 28.3 28.9 30.1 31.6 33.0 35.3 32.4

Top 5% 13.8 13.7 13.6 13.6 15.7 16.4 15.8 19.7 17.8 18.7 18.9 17.5 17.1 18.1 19.2 18.7 20.7 21.2 22.3 23.9 25.3 27.5 24.2

Top 1% 5.7 6.0 6.3 6.0 7.8 8.2 7.5 11.1 9.0 9.8 9.9 8.2 8.2 8.7 9.7 9.2 10.6 11.2 11.9 13.3 14.7 16.8 14.0

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After-Tax Income

Lowest 

Quintile 7.3 7.4 7.4 7.4 7.2 6.8 7.0 6.5 7.0 6.8 7.0 7.3 7.4 7.1 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.3 7.3 7.0 6.4 6.7

Second 

Quintile 14.6 14.8 14.8 14.6 13.9 13.8 13.8 13.2 13.0 13.1 13.0 13.9 14.0 13.8 13.7 13.7 13.8 13.7 13.4 13.2 12.9 12.2 13.2

Middle 

Quintile 21.0 21.1 20.9 20.8 20.0 19.7 19.6 18.4 19.4 19.2 19.0 19.2 18.9 18.7 18.5 18.5 17.8 18.1 17.6 17.1 16.6 16.0 16.8

Fourth 

Quintile 25.5 25.2 25.5 25.6 24.9 24.8 24.6 23.5 24.7 24.4 24.2 24.1 24.0 23.8 23.9 24.0 22.9 23.0 22.7 22.2 21.9 21.4 22.0

Highest 

Quintile 32.0 32.1 32.3 32.6 35.1 36.1 36.0 39.3 37.1 37.9 38.2 36.6 36.8 37.5 37.8 37.5 39.0 38.7 39.7 41.0 42.4 44.7 42.2

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Top 10% 18.9 19.1 19.1 19.5 21.6 22.6 22.6 26.1 23.5 24.4 25.0 23.3 23.1 23.8 24.2 24.0 25.4 25.8 27.0 28.3 29.6 31.8 29.0

Top 5% 12.3 12.3 12.5 12.9 14.9 15.6 15.2 19.0 16.3 17.4 17.6 16.3 15.7 16.6 16.9 16.4 18.0 18.4 19.5 21.0 22.2 24.2 21.2

Top 1% 4.8 5.2 5.7 5.6 7.2 7.6 7.1 10.6 7.9 8.9 9.0 7.4 7.3 7.7 8.1 7.5 8.7 9.2 9.9 11.2 12.5 14.4 11.8

Minimum Adjusted Income (2001 dollars)

Lowest 

Quintile 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Second 

Quintile 14,800 14,200 14,000 13,600 13,000 13,800 13,900 14,100 13,600 13,900 14,300 14,600 14,600 14,200 14,400 14,600 15,300 15,000 15,400 16,200 16,600 16,200 16,300

Middle 

Quintile 23,400 22,700 22,500 22,000 21,800 22,700 23,100 23,800 23,700 24,200 24,600 24,600 24,100 24,200 24,300 24,700 25,500 25,800 26,100 27,100 27,700 27,500 27,600

Fourth 

Quintile 32,100 31,200 31,500 31,100 31,100 32,500 33,000 34,100 34,300 35,000 35,400 35,200 34,800 35,100 35,100 35,900 36,500 37,000 37,600 39,000 39,800 40,000 39,800

Highest 

Quintile 44,800 43,800 44,200 44,200 44,600 46,400 47,100 49,200 49,800 50,800 51,500 50,800 50,000 50,700 51,100 51,900 53,200 54,300 55,600 57,700 59,400 60,000 59,400

Top 10% 57,300 56,600 56,700 57,000 57,700 60,800 61,900 64,800 65,700 67,300 68,300 67,100 66,100 67,300 67,700 68,700 71,100 73,100 75,300 78,500 80,800 82,300 80,300

Top 5% 72,700 71,100 71,800 71,400 73,100 77,200 79,200 84,100 84,000 86,400 88,500 87,100 85,600 88,300 88,000 89,900 93,600 96,300 101,000 105,400 108,600 111,400 107,300

Top 1% 142,200 138,000 136,000 136,700 142,700 152,600 158,700 184,300 172,900 186,100 188,700 180,000 176,500 186,700 183,600 189,200 201,200 212,400 225,500 240,600 256,600 264,300 238,000

Source: Congressional Budget Office.

Effective tax rates are calculated by dividing taxes by comprehensive household income. A household consists of the people who share a housing unit, 

regardless of their relationships. A household with children has at least one member under age 18.

The income measure is comprehensive household income, which comprises pretax cash income plus income from other sources. Pretax cash income is the 

sum of wages, salaries, self-employment income, rents, taxable and nontaxable interest, dividends, realized capital gains, cash transfer payments, and 

retirement benefits plus taxes paid by businesses (corporate income taxes; the employer’s share of Social Security, Medicare, and federal 

unemployment insurance payroll taxes); and employees’ contributions to 401(k) retirement plans. Other sources of income include all in-kind benefits 

(Medicare, Medicaid, employer-paid health insurance premiums, food stamps, school lunches and breakfasts, housing assistance, and energy 

assistance). Households with negative income are excluded from the lowest income category but are included in totals.

Income categories are defined by ranking all people by their comprehensive household income adjusted for household size--that is, divided by the square root 

of the household’s size. Quintiles, or fifths, contain equal numbers of people.

Individual income taxes are distributed directly to households paying those taxes. Social insurance, or payroll, taxes are distributed to households paying 

those taxes directly or paying them indirectly through their employers. Corporate income taxes are distributed to households according to their share of 

capital income. Federal excise taxes are distributed to them according to their consumption of the taxed good or service.

The minimum adjusted income is the lower income boundary for each quintile.

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Table 3A. 

Effective Federal Tax Rates for Elderly Childless Households, by Comprehensive Household Income Quintile, 1979-2001

Income 

Category 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

Total Effective Federal Tax Rate

Lowest Quintile 3.5 2.7 2.2 2.0 2.4 2.7 2.6 2.6 3.1 3.0 2.7 2.8 3.1 3.3 3.4 3.3 3.4 3.4 3.1 3.3 3.4 3.4 3.1

Second Quintile 6.6 5.3 4.8 3.9 4.2 4.9 4.7 4.8 4.9 5.1 4.9 4.9 4.8 4.8 4.8 4.5 4.8 4.7 4.5 4.8 5.3 5.1 4.5

Middle Quintile 12.2 10.8 9.6 8.0 8.3 8.9 8.7 8.6 9.1 9.4 8.9 8.9 8.3 8.3 8.5 8.4 8.8 8.8 8.5 8.6 9.0 8.9 7.4

Fourth Quintile 16.4 15.4 14.2 11.6 12.2 13.0 12.8 12.3 13.7 13.9 13.5 13.3 12.6 12.7 12.9 13.0 13.4 13.2 13.2 13.3 14.2 14.0 12.2

Highest Quintile 30.7 28.8 26.7 22.9 22.5 24.3 23.6 22.7 25.8 25.8 24.8 24.3 23.4 24.1 25.5 26.6 27.1 27.5 26.9 25.9 26.2 25.8 24.1

 All 20.2 18.9 17.6 15.1 15.4 16.6 16.2 15.9 17.0 17.4 16.8 16.5 15.7 16.2 16.9 17.4 18.1 19.1 19.0 18.5 18.9 18.6 16.5

Top 10% 33.2 31.2 28.9 25.0 24.7 26.2 25.4 23.9 27.7 27.4 26.5 26.0 25.4 26.3 27.9 29.2 29.8 30.2 29.3 27.9 28.1 27.8 26.5

Top 5% 35.5 33.4 30.9 26.7 26.3 27.7 26.5 24.9 29.2 29.0 27.8 27.5 27.0 28.0 30.3 31.1 32.0 32.1 31.1 29.5 29.7 29.2 28.2

Top 1% 40.2 37.9 34.5 29.4 28.9 29.7 28.4 26.2 31.6 31.3 29.9 29.7 29.6 31.1 34.1 35.4 35.8 35.8 34.2 32.1 32.0 31.6 31.3

Effective Individual Income Tax Rate

Lowest Quintile 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0

Second Quintile 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.6 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.7 0.7 0.4

Middle Quintile 2.5 2.7 2.8 2.7 2.3 2.2 2.4 2.2 2.1 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.4 2.1 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.6 2.7 2.9 2.1

Fourth Quintile 5.0 5.6 5.8 5.4 5.0 5.1 5.3 4.9 4.9 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.1 4.9 4.7 4.6 4.8 4.8 4.9 5.4 6.2 6.5 5.8

Highest Quintile 14.3 15.3 15.7 15.1 13.5 14.4 14.6 14.0 13.9 14.2 13.7 13.5 12.8 12.7 12.6 13.2 13.6 14.4 14.6 14.6 15.2 15.4 14.6

 All 8.2 8.8 9.2 8.9 8.1 8.5 8.8 8.5 7.8 8.3 8.2 8.0 7.5 7.4 7.3 7.5 8.0 9.0 9.3 9.4 9.9 10.1 8.9

Top 10% 16.0 17.1 17.5 17.1 15.3 16.2 16.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.0 14.7 14.2 14.1 14.0 14.7 15.2 16.2 16.2 16.0 16.6 16.9 16.4

Top 5% 17.6 18.7 19.1 18.7 16.7 17.4 17.2 16.3 16.5 16.8 16.0 15.9 15.3 15.2 15.5 15.8 16.5 17.5 17.4 17.1 17.8 18.1 17.7

Top 1% 20.9 22.2 22.0 21.1 19.1 19.2 19.1 17.9 18.4 18.9 17.7 17.6 17.3 17.7 18.3 18.5 19.0 20.1 19.8 19.2 19.9 20.1 20.0

Effective Social Insurance Tax Rate

Lowest Quintile 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.6 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.5

Second Quintile 1.6 1.4 1.4 1.3 1.1 1.3 1.3 1.4 1.2 1.3 1.3 1.4 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.1 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.6 1.6 1.5

Middle Quintile 2.6 2.3 2.3 2.2 2.0 2.2 2.1 2.2 2.0 2.0 1.9 2.1 1.9 1.8 2.0 1.8 2.1 2.0 1.9 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0

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Fourth Quintile 2.8 2.8 2.6 2.5 2.6 2.6 2.7 2.6 2.8 2.8 2.6 2.6 2.5 2.6 2.6 2.6 2.6 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.9 2.9 2.9

Highest Quintile 1.9 1.8 2.0 2.1 2.0 2.1 2.0 1.9 2.0 2.0 1.9 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.1 1.9 2.0 1.9 2.0 2.3

 All 1.9 1.8 1.9 2.0 1.9 2.0 2.0 1.9 2.0 2.0 1.9 2.1 2.0 2.1 2.0 2.0 2.1 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.2

Top 10% 1.5 1.5 1.7 1.8 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.5 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.8 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 1.9 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 2.0

Top 5% 1.1 1.2 1.4 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.3 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.6 1.7 1.6 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.6

Top 1% 0.5 0.5 0.7 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.8 0.6 0.7 0.6 0.7 0.7 1.0 0.9 0.9 1.1 1.1 1.0 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 1.0

Effective Corporate Income Tax Rate

Lowest Quintile 1.6 1.2 0.7 0.4 0.6 0.7 0.6 0.7 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 1.0 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.7 0.5

Second Quintile 3.3 2.4 1.8 1.1 1.4 1.7 1.6 1.6 1.9 2.0 1.9 1.7 1.5 1.6 1.8 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.4 1.5 1.4 1.4 1.1

Middle Quintile 6.0 4.9 3.7 2.3 2.9 3.3 3.0 3.0 3.8 3.7 3.5 3.1 2.8 3.1 3.2 3.2 3.2 3.3 3.0 2.8 2.9 2.8 2.1

Fourth Quintile 7.5 6.1 4.9 2.9 3.6 4.3 3.8 3.8 5.1 4.7 4.6 4.3 3.9 4.1 4.5 4.7 4.8 4.8 4.6 4.1 3.9 3.5 2.5

Highest Quintile 13.7 11.0 8.4 5.0 6.4 7.2 6.4 6.1 9.1 8.9 8.5 8.2 7.7 8.5 10.0 10.5 10.6 10.3 9.7 8.7 8.3 7.7 6.5

 All 9.2 7.4 5.7 3.5 4.5 5.1 4.6 4.5 6.2 6.1 5.9 5.5 5.1 5.7 6.5 6.7 7.0 7.2 6.8 6.1 5.9 5.5 4.3

Top 10% 15.0 12.0 9.2 5.5 7.1 7.8 7.0 6.5 10.0 9.7 9.4 9.0 8.6 9.6 11.2 11.9 12.0 11.6 10.8 9.6 9.2 8.6 7.6

Top 5% 16.2 12.9 9.9 6.0 7.6 8.5 7.5 6.8 10.7 10.4 10.0 9.7 9.5 10.4 12.5 13.0 13.3 12.6 11.8 10.5 10.0 9.2 8.4

Top 1% 18.2 14.6 11.4 7.1 8.6 9.4 8.2 7.3 11.9 11.3 11.1 11.0 10.9 12.1 14.4 15.4 15.2 14.4 13.2 11.6 10.9 10.3 10.0

Effective Excise Tax Rate

Lowest Quintile 1.3 1.1 1.0 1.1 1.4 1.5 1.5 1.4 1.7 1.6 1.4 1.5 1.7 1.9 1.9 2.0 2.0 2.0 1.9 1.9 2.1 2.0 2.0

Second Quintile 1.1 0.9 0.8 0.9 1.1 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.3 1.3 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.4 1.5 1.5 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.6 1.5 1.5

Middle Quintile 1.1 0.9 0.8 0.9 1.1 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.1 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.3 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.4 1.3 1.3

Fourth Quintile 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.8 1.0 1.1 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.2 1.1 1.1 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.1 1.1

Highest Quintile 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.7 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.6

 All 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.8 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.0 0.9 0.9 0.9 1.0 1.0 1.0

Top 10% 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.7 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.5

Top 5% 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5

Top 1% 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.3

Source: Congressional Budget Office.

Effective tax rates are calculated by dividing taxes by comprehensive household income. A household consists of the people who share a housing unit, 

regardless of their relationships. An elderly childless household is one headed by a person age 65 or older with no member under age 18.

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The income measure is comprehensive household income, which comprises pretax cash income plus income from other sources. Pretax cash income is the 

sum of wages, salaries, self-employment income, rents, taxable and nontaxable interest, dividends, realized capital gains, cash transfer payments, and 

retirement benefits plus taxes paid by businesses (corporate income taxes; the employer’s share of Social Security, Medicare, and federal 

unemployment insurance payroll taxes); and employees’ contributions to 401(k) retirement plans. Other sources of income include all in-kind benefits 

(Medicare, Medicaid, employer-paid health insurance premiums, food stamps, school lunches and breakfasts, housing assistance, and energy 

assistance). Households with negative income are excluded from the lowest income category but are included in totals.

Income categories are defined by ranking all people by their comprehensive household income adjusted for household size--that is, divided by the square root 

of the household’s size. Quintiles, or fifths, contain equal numbers of people.

Individual income taxes are distributed directly to households paying those taxes. Social insurance, or payroll, taxes are distributed to households paying 

those taxes directly or paying them indirectly through their employers. Corporate income taxes are distributed to households according to their share of 

capital income. Federal excise taxes are distributed to them according to their consumption of the taxed good or service.

 

Table 3B. 

Shares of Federal Tax Liabilities for Elderly Childless Households, by Comprehensive Household Income Quintile, 1979-2001

Income 

Category 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

Share of Total Federal Tax Liabilities

Lowest Quintile 1.9 1.5 1.1 0.9 0.9 1.0 1.0 0.9 1.0 0.9 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.1 1.1 1.0 1.0 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.8 0.9

Second Quintile 4.3 3.6 3.3 3.1 3.2 3.2 3.0 3.0 3.5 3.4 3.4 3.3 3.3 3.2 3.2 2.9 2.7 2.2 2.0 2.1 2.3 2.2 2.5

Middle Quintile 7.6 7.2 7.2 7.4 7.9 7.7 7.7 8.1 8.8 8.8 8.3 8.8 9.8 8.7 8.7 8.9 8.5 7.4 7.2 7.9 8.3 8.1 8.5

Fourth Quintile 11.3 12.6 13.3 13.5 14.2 15.1 15.3 14.5 16.2 15.3 15.2 15.7 15.5 15.6 14.6 14.1 13.8 12.5 12.0 11.7 11.8 11.9 13.1

Highest Quintile 74.9 75.0 75.0 75.0 73.8 72.9 72.9 73.4 70.4 71.4 72.1 71.0 69.9 71.2 72.0 72.8 73.7 76.8 77.8 77.3 76.7 76.6 74.8

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Top 10% 64.5 64.3 63.9 63.1 61.2 61.3 62.6 63.8 60.2 61.7 61.0 59.8 57.5 59.6 61.2 61.8 61.6 65.3 65.7 65.3 64.9 64.2 61.6

Top 5% 56.1 55.1 54.0 53.5 51.2 50.8 53.1 54.8 50.9 51.8 51.1 48.7 47.1 49.1 50.1 52.0 50.6 54.4 55.3 54.0 54.4 53.6 51.4

Top 1% 37.4 34.6 32.1 33.0 32.2 33.0 34.7 37.2 31.1 33.6 31.0 29.7 28.2 29.4 31.6 32.3 31.5 35.4 35.0 34.8 35.8 33.9 33.4

Share of Individual Income Tax Liabilities

Lowest Quintile 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Second Quintile 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.8 0.9 0.9 0.8 0.6 0.7 0.5 0.6 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.4

Middle Quintile 3.9 3.9 4.1 4.2 4.1 3.7 4.0 3.9 4.3 4.8 4.7 5.2 5.8 4.8 4.8 5.0 4.8 4.0 4.2 4.8 4.8 4.8 4.4

Fourth Quintile 8.5 9.8 10.5 10.8 11.0 11.5 11.8 10.9 12.5 12.3 12.4 13.2 13.2 13.1 12.4 11.4 11.1 9.6 9.2 9.4 9.8 10.2 11.4

Highest Quintile 86.7 85.4 84.5 84.2 84.0 84.0 83.5 84.5 82.4 82.1 81.9 80.7 80.1 81.4 82.1 83.0 83.4 85.9 86.2 85.4 84.8 84.4 83.8

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

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Top 10% 77.1 75.5 74.0 73.1 72.2 73.4 74.1 75.9 72.4 72.9 70.9 69.4 67.4 69.5 71.1 71.6 70.8 74.4 74.1 73.4 73.2 72.0 70.2

Top 5% 68.5 66.2 64.0 63.3 62.0 62.1 64.1 66.7 62.3 62.5 60.5 57.9 56.0 58.3 59.4 60.8 59.0 63.1 63.1 61.5 62.2 61.1 59.3

Top 1% 48.2 43.5 39.2 40.1 40.4 41.3 43.4 47.2 39.3 42.3 37.8 36.2 34.6 36.5 39.2 38.8 37.9 42.3 41.3 40.8 42.3 39.8 39.2

Share of Social Insurance Tax Liabilities

Lowest Quintile 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.4 1.2 1.3 1.3 1.1 1.1 1.3 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.2 1.2 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.1 1.3 1.2 1.4 1.1

Second Quintile 11.5 9.7 9.0 7.7 7.0 7.2 6.7 7.0 7.2 7.3 7.7 7.7 7.1 6.8 6.6 6.0 6.1 5.7 5.6 5.4 6.4 6.3 6.1

Middle Quintile 17.1 15.7 15.6 15.4 15.2 15.8 15.2 17.3 16.8 16.6 15.7 17.1 17.2 15.0 16.7 16.4 17.3 15.5 15.6 16.6 17.1 16.5 16.6

Fourth Quintile 20.8 23.5 22.4 22.2 24.3 24.6 26.3 25.0 27.9 27.2 25.7 24.6 23.6 24.8 24.5 23.9 23.5 22.4 22.8 22.0 22.4 22.2 22.7

Highest Quintile 48.4 48.6 50.9 53.2 52.1 51.0 50.3 49.6 47.0 47.5 49.4 49.0 50.2 52.1 50.9 52.3 51.7 55.0 54.6 54.5 52.7 53.4 53.3

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Top 10% 30.6 31.8 34.0 35.0 34.1 32.5 34.4 33.0 30.2 30.8 32.5 32.9 34.2 35.0 35.6 36.3 35.5 38.2 37.6 37.1 36.0 36.4 34.7

Top 5% 18.7 19.9 21.8 23.0 21.5 19.6 21.9 21.5 19.5 18.6 20.8 20.3 22.2 23.8 21.8 25.3 23.2 25.2 25.1 23.6 23.2 24.1 22.2

Top 1% 4.5 4.8 5.6 6.8 6.6 6.5 7.5 6.8 5.7 5.6 6.3 5.7 7.1 6.7 6.9 8.8 8.5 9.0 8.7 8.8 9.6 8.6 7.8

Share of Corporate Income Tax Liabilities

Lowest Quintile 1.9 1.6 1.1 0.9 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.8 0.9 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.5

Second Quintile 4.8 4.1 4.0 3.7 3.5 3.6 3.5 3.5 3.8 3.7 3.8 3.3 3.2 3.1 3.1 2.6 2.3 2.0 1.7 2.1 1.9 2.1 2.4

Middle Quintile 8.3 8.3 8.4 9.3 9.5 9.4 9.5 9.9 10.1 10.0 9.3 9.2 10.1 9.3 8.6 8.6 8.1 7.5 7.1 7.7 8.5 8.6 9.2

Fourth Quintile 11.4 12.8 14.0 14.5 14.3 16.1 15.9 15.9 16.6 14.8 14.8 15.0 14.8 14.5 13.2 13.1 12.9 12.2 11.8 10.9 10.3 10.2 10.2

Highest Quintile 73.5 73.1 72.3 71.4 71.7 69.9 69.9 69.8 68.4 70.3 71.1 71.1 70.2 71.6 73.7 74.3 75.2 76.9 78.3 78.2 78.1 77.9 76.9

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Top 10% 63.9 62.7 62.1 60.9 59.9 59.2 60.4 61.1 59.7 62.0 61.7 61.5 59.5 62.3 64.2 65.0 64.7 66.9 67.7 67.9 68.0 67.1 66.8

Top 5% 56.2 54.1 53.0 52.5 50.8 50.5 52.6 52.9 51.5 53.0 52.6 51.3 50.5 52.5 53.9 56.2 54.5 56.8 58.1 57.8 58.4 57.2 58.4

Top 1% 37.3 34.0 32.4 34.7 32.8 34.0 35.2 36.4 32.2 34.7 33.0 32.8 31.8 32.7 34.7 36.3 34.9 37.9 37.5 38.1 38.8 37.3 40.5

Share of Federal Excise Tax Liabilities

Lowest Quintile 14.7 13.3 11.6 9.7 8.7 10.0 10.2 8.3 9.1 9.2 8.8 9.9 10.0 9.9 9.5 9.1 10.0 9.2 8.4 8.3 8.4 8.9 9.6

Second Quintile 15.4 14.6 14.0 14.4 14.6 14.7 14.6 13.3 16.4 15.6 15.5 14.6 14.3 14.6 14.7 15.4 14.8 13.5 12.5 12.0 12.4 12.2 13.8

Middle Quintile 14.1 14.3 15.2 16.3 17.7 18.2 19.0 19.6 20.0 19.9 19.4 20.2 22.7 20.9 21.1 22.8 20.9 20.9 20.7 21.6 22.9 21.9 24.5

Fourth Quintile 15.0 16.9 18.2 19.5 20.3 22.0 22.2 20.3 19.6 19.7 21.0 21.8 20.4 21.0 19.9 20.0 20.1 20.4 19.2 18.2 18.4 18.1 19.5

Highest Quintile 40.5 40.6 40.6 39.8 38.4 34.7 33.7 38.3 34.7 35.5 35.0 33.3 32.3 33.3 34.4 32.1 33.7 35.7 38.9 39.6 37.5 38.5 32.3

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

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Top 10% 30.3 29.9 29.8 28.4 26.5 23.9 24.0 29.7 26.5 27.2 24.6 23.2 21.4 22.8 24.6 21.6 22.0 23.8 26.7 27.6 25.6 26.0 20.4

Top 5% 23.2 22.3 22.0 21.2 19.5 16.6 17.6 22.9 20.1 19.9 17.5 15.4 14.5 15.5 16.9 15.2 14.5 16.3 19.1 19.3 17.8 18.1 14.2

Top 1% 11.8 10.6 9.9 10.2 9.7 7.9 8.1 12.4 9.4 10.0 7.5 6.4 5.8 6.3 7.3 6.2 6.1 7.0 8.5 9.0 7.8 7.5 6.2

Source: Congressional Budget Office.

Effective tax rates are calculated by dividing taxes by comprehensive household income. A household consists of the people who share a housing unit, 

regardless of their relationships. An elderly childless household is one headed by a person age 65 or older with no member under age 18.

The income measure is comprehensive household income, which comprises pretax cash income plus income from other sources. Pretax cash income is the 

sum of wages, salaries, self-employment income, rents, taxable and nontaxable interest, dividends, realized capital gains, cash transfer payments, and 

retirement benefits plus taxes paid by businesses (corporate income taxes; the employer’s share of Social Security, Medicare, and federal 

unemployment insurance payroll taxes); and employees’ contributions to 401(k) retirement plans. Other sources of income include all in-kind benefits 

(Medicare, Medicaid, employer-paid health insurance premiums, food stamps, school lunches and breakfasts, housing assistance, and energy 

assistance). Households with negative income are excluded from the lowest income category but are included in totals.

Income categories are defined by ranking all people by their comprehensive household income adjusted for household size--that is, divided by the square root 

of the household’s size. Quintiles, or fifths, contain equal numbers of people.

Individual income taxes are distributed directly to households paying those taxes. Social insurance, or payroll, taxes are distributed to households paying 

those taxes directly or paying them indirectly through their employers. Corporate income taxes are distributed to households according to their share of 

capital income. Federal excise taxes are distributed to them according to their consumption of the taxed good or service.

 

Table 3C. 

Number of Households, Average Pretax and After-Tax Income, Shares of Pretax and After-Tax Income, and Income Category Minimums for Elderly 

Childless Households, by Comprehensive Household Income Category, 1979-2001

Income 

Category 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

Number of Households (Millions)

Lowest Quintile 6.3 6.1 5.6 5.0 4.5 4.8 5.0 4.9 4.7 4.9 4.9 5.2 5.4 5.1 5.0 5.1 5.2 4.8 4.8 4.8 4.9 5.3 5.3

Second Quintile 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 4.2 3.9 3.9 4.0 4.7 4.7 4.8 4.4 4.2 4.3 4.6 4.7 4.4 4.2 4.1 4.0 4.0 4.2 4.3

Middle Quintile 2.3 2.4 2.6 3.0 3.3 3.3 3.4 3.8 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.2 4.5 4.3 4.4 4.8 4.7 4.7 4.9 5.3 5.5 5.5 5.7

Fourth Quintile 1.8 2.1 2.3 2.6 2.8 3.0 3.2 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.5 3.4 3.5 3.4 3.4 3.6 3.7 3.7 3.5 3.4 3.4 3.5

Highest Quintile 2.4 2.6 2.8 3.0 3.2 3.1 3.0 3.0 2.8 2.8 3.1 3.2 3.2 3.2 3.2 3.2 3.5 3.8 4.0 4.0 3.9 4.1 3.8

 All 16.5 16.8 17.2 17.6 17.9 18.1 18.6 19.0 19.5 19.7 20.1 20.4 20.8 20.4 20.6 21.2 21.4 21.4 21.5 21.6 21.8 22.6 22.7

Top 10% 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.7 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.8 1.8 1.9 1.8 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.2 2.2 1.9

Top 5% 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.0 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.1

Top 1% 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.2

Average Income (2001 dollars)

Pretax Income

Lowest Quintile 11,000 10,800 10,600 10,100 9,700 10,400 10,200 10,300 10,100 10,300 10,400 10,400 10,400 10,000 10,200 10,200 10,800 10,500 10,800 11,400 11,700 11,500 11,400

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Second Quintile 23,900 22,800 22,600 22,100 21,500 22,500 22,700 23,300 23,000 23,300 23,700 24,000 23,900 24,100 23,800 23,900 24,900 24,900 25,300 27,100 28,000 27,300 27,200

Middle Quintile 35,900 35,000 35,100 34,100 33,700 35,600 36,300 37,200 37,300 38,100 38,300 38,400 37,900 37,900 38,500 38,600 39,800 40,100 41,000 42,300 42,900 42,900 42,500

Fourth Quintile 50,600 48,800 49,400 48,900 48,700 51,400 52,200 54,700 54,500 54,700 55,200 54,300 53,500 54,200 54,300 55,700 56,200 57,300 58,800 61,900 63,900 65,300 64,700

Highest Quintile 131,700 123,900 121,100 119,600 120,900 131,900 144,600 165,200 148,900 161,900 154,100 147,600 139,400 145,600 145,600 150,200 150,800 163,100 170,600 179,800 191,100 189,100 174,600

 All 39,300 38,900 40,200 41,400 42,400 44,800 46,300 50,100 45,900 47,700 48,400 47,400 45,300 47,000 47,000 47,700 50,300 54,800 57,700 60,600 62,500 61,600 57,200

Top 10% 172,400 158,700 155,800 157,500 162,700 177,700 194,600 220,700 194,700 212,400 205,700 194,000 188,600 195,300 192,300 202,000 204,700 225,900 240,700 251,100 270,600 272,200 254,300

Top 5% 222,700 202,300 197,000 202,100 214,700 238,600 257,000 299,500 257,300 298,900 276,900 266,700 250,800 265,500 267,200 265,500 285,500 317,200 338,400 365,200 394,900 393,700 364,600

Top 1% 447,000 405,900 403,600 411,200 462,300 489,700 560,400 658,500 570,800 731,300 645,500 630,300 582,900 647,100 617,100 640,000 668,200 792,500 889,300 966,000 1,049,000 1,107,600 953,600

After-Tax Income

Lowest Quintile 10,600 10,500 10,300 9,900 9,400 10,100 9,900 10,000 9,800 10,000 10,100 10,100 10,100 9,600 9,800 9,800 10,400 10,100 10,400 11,000 11,300 11,100 11,100

Second Quintile 22,300 21,500 21,500 21,300 20,600 21,400 21,600 22,200 21,900 22,100 22,500 22,900 22,800 22,900 22,700 22,800 23,700 23,800 24,200 25,800 26,500 25,900 26,000

Middle Quintile 31,500 31,300 31,700 31,400 30,900 32,500 33,100 34,000 33,900 34,600 34,900 35,000 34,800 34,700 35,200 35,300 36,300 36,600 37,500 38,700 39,100 39,100 39,400

Fourth Quintile 42,300 41,300 42,400 43,200 42,700 44,700 45,600 47,900 47,000 47,100 47,800 47,000 46,800 47,300 47,300 48,400 48,700 49,700 51,100 53,700 54,900 56,100 56,700

Highest Quintile 91,300 88,200 88,800 92,200 93,700 99,800 110,500 127,700 110,500 120,100 116,000 111,700 106,700 110,500 108,400 110,300 110,000 118,300 124,700 133,200 141,000 140,300 132,600

 All 31,300 31,600 33,100 35,100 35,900 37,400 38,800 42,200 38,100 39,400 40,200 39,600 38,200 39,400 39,000 39,400 41,200 44,300 46,800 49,400 50,700 50,100 47,800

Top 10% 115,100 109,100 110,800 118,200 122,600 131,200 145,200 167,900 140,800 154,100 151,100 143,600 140,600 144,000 138,700 143,000 143,700 157,800 170,200 181,000 194,500 196,600 187,000

Top 5% 143,500 134,800 136,200 148,200 158,400 172,500 188,900 224,900 182,300 212,100 199,800 193,200 183,200 191,200 186,300 183,000 194,100 215,200 233,200 257,300 277,700 278,500 261,600

Top 1% 267,500 252,100 264,500 290,400 328,600 344,300 401,400 485,800 390,600 502,600 452,800 443,300 410,400 445,700 406,900 413,500 429,300 508,800 585,200 655,700 713,000 757,500 654,800

Share of Income (Percent)

Pretax Income

Lowest Quintile 10.8 10.0 8.6 6.9 5.7 6.1 5.9 5.3 5.3 5.4 5.2 5.6 6.0 5.3 5.3 5.1 5.2 4.4 4.1 4.2 4.2 4.4 4.7

Second Quintile 13.3 12.8 12.3 11.9 11.8 10.8 10.3 9.8 12.1 11.6 11.6 11.0 10.8 10.8 11.3 11.1 10.1 9.0 8.4 8.2 8.2 8.2 9.0

Middle Quintile 12.6 12.6 13.3 14.0 14.6 14.4 14.5 15.0 16.5 16.3 15.6 16.4 18.3 17.1 17.3 18.3 17.4 16.1 16.1 17.0 17.4 17.0 18.8

Fourth Quintile 13.9 15.5 16.5 17.7 17.8 19.2 19.5 18.8 20.0 19.1 19.0 19.4 19.4 19.8 19.2 18.8 18.7 18.1 17.3 16.3 15.7 15.9 17.6

Highest Quintile 49.5 49.2 49.5 49.7 50.4 49.7 50.1 51.4 46.4 48.1 49.0 48.2 46.7 47.8 47.7 47.6 49.3 53.5 54.9 55.2 55.3 55.3 51.1

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Top 10% 39.3 38.9 38.9 38.3 38.2 38.8 40.1 42.4 37.0 39.1 38.7 37.9 35.4 36.7 37.1 36.7 37.4 41.4 42.6 43.3 43.6 43.1 38.3

Top 5% 32.0 31.2 30.8 30.3 30.0 30.4 32.6 35.0 29.7 31.0 30.9 29.2 27.4 28.5 27.9 29.1 28.6 32.4 33.8 33.9 34.6 34.1 29.9

Top 1% 18.9 17.3 16.4 17.0 17.1 18.4 19.9 22.6 16.7 18.7 17.5 16.5 14.9 15.3 15.7 15.8 15.9 18.9 19.4 20.1 21.1 20.0 17.5

After-Tax Income

Lowest Quintile 13.1 12.0 10.2 8.0 6.6 7.1 6.9 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.1 6.5 6.8 6.1 6.1 5.9 6.1 5.2 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.2 5.4

Second Quintile 15.6 14.9 14.3 13.5 13.3 12.3 11.8 11.1 13.9 13.3 13.3 12.5 12.2 12.2 13.0 12.9 11.8 10.7 9.9 9.6 9.6 9.6 10.2

Middle Quintile 13.9 13.9 14.5 15.2 15.8 15.8 15.8 16.3 18.1 17.9 17.1 17.9 19.9 18.7 19.1 20.2 19.4 18.1 18.2 19.1 19.6 19.1 20.8

Fourth Quintile 14.6 16.1 17.2 18.4 18.5 20.1 20.3 19.6 20.8 19.9 19.7 20.1 20.1 20.7 20.1 19.8 19.7 19.4 18.6 17.4 16.7 16.8 18.5

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Highest Quintile 43.0 43.2 44.0 45.1 46.1 45.1 45.7 47.3 41.5 43.2 44.4 43.7 42.4 43.3 42.7 42.3 43.9 48.0 49.6 50.2 50.3 50.5 46.4

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Top 10% 32.9 33.0 33.6 33.9 34.0 34.3 35.7 38.4 32.2 34.3 34.2 33.6 31.3 32.3 32.2 31.5 32.0 35.8 37.2 38.3 38.7 38.2 33.7

Top 5% 25.8 25.6 25.8 26.2 26.1 26.4 28.6 31.2 25.3 26.6 26.8 25.3 23.7 24.5 23.4 24.3 23.7 27.2 28.7 29.3 30.0 29.7 25.7

Top 1% 14.2 13.2 13.0 14.2 14.4 15.5 17.0 19.8 13.8 15.5 14.8 13.9 12.5 12.6 12.4 12.4 12.5 15.0 15.8 16.7 17.7 16.8 14.4

Minimum Adjusted Income (2001 dollars)

Lowest Quintile 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Second Quintile 14,800 14,200 14,000 13,600 13,000 13,800 13,900 14,100 13,600 13,900 14,300 14,600 14,600 14,200 14,400 14,600 15,300 15,000 15,400 16,200 16,600 16,200 16,300

Middle Quintile 23,400 22,700 22,500 22,000 21,800 22,700 23,100 23,800 23,700 24,200 24,600 24,600 24,100 24,200 24,300 24,700 25,500 25,800 26,100 27,100 27,700 27,500 27,600

Fourth Quintile 32,100 31,200 31,500 31,100 31,100 32,500 33,000 34,100 34,300 35,000 35,400 35,200 34,800 35,100 35,100 35,900 36,500 37,000 37,600 39,000 39,800 40,000 39,800

Highest Quintile 44,800 43,800 44,200 44,200 44,600 46,400 47,100 49,200 49,800 50,800 51,500 50,800 50,000 50,700 51,100 51,900 53,200 54,300 55,600 57,700 59,400 60,000 59,400

Top 10% 57,300 56,600 56,700 57,000 57,700 60,800 61,900 64,800 65,700 67,300 68,300 67,100 66,100 67,300 67,700 68,700 71,100 73,100 75,300 78,500 80,800 82,300 80,300

Top 5% 72,700 71,100 71,800 71,400 73,100 77,200 79,200 84,100 84,000 86,400 88,500 87,100 85,600 88,300 88,000 89,900 93,600 96,300 101,000 105,400 108,600 111,400 107,300

Top 1% 142,200 138,000 136,000 136,700 142,700 152,600 158,700 184,300 172,900 186,100 188,700 180,000 176,500 186,700 183,600 189,200 201,200 212,400 225,500 240,600 256,600 264,300 238,000

Source: Congressional Budget Office.

Effective tax rates are calculated by dividing taxes by comprehensive household income. A household consists of the people who share a housing unit, 

regardless of their relationships. An elderly childless household is one headed by a person age 65 or older with no member under age 18.

The income measure is comprehensive household income, which comprises pretax cash income plus income from other sources. Pretax cash income is the 

sum of wages, salaries, self-employment income, rents, taxable and nontaxable interest, dividends, realized capital gains, cash transfer payments, and 

retirement benefits plus taxes paid by businesses (corporate income taxes; the employer’s share of Social Security, Medicare, and federal 

unemployment insurance payroll taxes); and employees’ contributions to 401(k) retirement plans. Other sources of income include all in-kind benefits 

(Medicare, Medicaid, employer-paid health insurance premiums, food stamps, school lunches and breakfasts, housing assistance, and energy 

assistance). Households with negative income are excluded from the lowest income category but are included in totals.

Income categories are defined by ranking all people by their comprehensive household income adjusted for household size--that is, divided by the square root 

of the household’s size. Quintiles, or fifths, contain equal numbers of people.

Individual income taxes are distributed directly to households paying those taxes. Social insurance, or payroll, taxes are distributed to households paying 

those taxes directly or paying them indirectly through their employers. Corporate income taxes are distributed to households according to their share of 

capital income. Federal excise taxes are distributed to them according to their consumption of the taxed good or service.

The minimum adjusted income is the lower income boundary for each quintile.

 

Table 4A. 

Effective Federal Tax Rates for Nonelderly Childless Households, by Comprehensive Household Income Quintile, 1979-2001

Income 

Category 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

Total Effective Federal Tax Rate

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Lowest Quintile 11.1 10.9 11.5 11.0 12.0 12.7 13.0 12.5 13.3 13.2 12.8 13.6 13.2 13.2 12.7 11.6 11.8 11.3 11.4 11.1 11.3 10.7 10.5

Second Quintile 16.3 16.2 16.8 15.8 15.6 16.3 16.9 16.6 16.3 16.7 16.5 16.9 16.6 16.1 16.2 16.2 16.4 16.0 16.4 15.8 16.2 15.7 14.3

Middle Quintile 19.6 20.0 20.5 19.3 19.0 19.6 19.9 19.9 19.6 19.9 19.9 20.0 19.8 19.6 19.5 19.8 19.7 19.7 19.9 19.7 19.7 19.6 18.0

Fourth Quintile 22.3 22.5 23.5 22.2 21.5 21.9 22.0 22.2 21.7 22.1 22.0 22.2 22.1 21.7 21.6 21.7 21.9 21.8 21.9 22.0 22.0 22.0 20.8

Highest Quintile 27.6 27.6 27.7 25.3 24.5 24.8 24.6 24.5 26.1 26.0 25.7 25.7 26.0 26.1 26.9 27.6 27.9 28.0 28.2 27.9 28.3 28.3 27.1

 All 24.3 24.4 24.8 23.0 22.4 22.7 22.9 22.9 23.7 23.8 23.5 23.7 23.7 23.8 24.2 24.6 24.8 24.8 25.1 24.7 25.0 25.0 23.7

Top 10% 29.2 29.0 28.7 26.0 25.1 25.4 25.1 24.8 27.3 26.8 26.5 26.5 26.9 27.2 28.5 29.3 29.6 29.8 29.8 29.4 29.7 29.7 28.6

Top 5% 31.3 30.5 29.6 26.5 25.6 26.0 25.5 24.9 28.5 27.7 27.2 27.2 27.9 28.3 30.1 31.2 31.4 31.6 31.5 30.9 31.1 31.1 30.0

Top 1% 36.4 34.2 31.5 27.7 27.5 28.2 27.0 25.5 31.4 29.5 28.8 28.6 30.1 30.5 34.3 35.7 35.9 35.8 34.9 33.6 33.7 33.3 33.1

Effective Individual Income Tax Rate

Lowest Quintile 1.0 1.3 1.5 1.3 1.3 1.5 1.4 1.0 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.6 0.3 0.0 -0.1 -1.5 -1.0 -1.1 -0.9 -1.2 -1.3 -1.5 -1.9

Second Quintile 5.0 5.4 5.7 5.0 4.6 4.8 4.9 4.7 4.0 4.1 4.0 4.3 4.0 3.6 3.5 3.2 3.5 3.4 3.5 3.2 3.4 3.1 2.0

Middle Quintile 8.1 8.7 8.9 8.1 7.5 7.5 7.6 7.5 6.9 7.0 7.0 7.0 6.8 6.6 6.6 6.5 6.4 6.5 6.7 6.5 6.5 6.5 5.2

Fourth Quintile 10.8 11.3 11.8 10.8 9.8 9.6 9.6 9.6 8.9 8.9 9.0 9.0 8.9 8.6 8.5 8.5 8.6 8.6 8.7 8.8 8.9 8.9 7.9

Highest Quintile 16.2 17.0 17.1 15.6 14.2 14.0 14.0 14.1 14.8 14.8 14.6 14.5 14.5 14.7 14.8 15.0 15.4 15.9 16.3 16.4 16.9 17.2 15.9

 All 12.8 13.5 13.8 12.7 11.6 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7 11.9 11.6 11.7 11.5 11.6 11.6 11.7 11.8 12.2 12.6 12.5 12.9 13.1 11.7

Top 10% 17.7 18.5 18.5 16.9 15.4 15.3 15.2 15.3 16.6 16.5 16.2 16.1 16.1 16.4 16.8 17.0 17.4 18.1 18.4 18.5 19.1 19.3 18.1

Top 5% 19.5 20.1 19.9 18.3 16.7 16.7 16.5 16.5 18.5 18.2 17.8 17.7 17.8 18.3 18.9 19.3 19.6 20.4 20.7 20.7 21.2 21.4 20.3

Top 1% 22.6 23.1 21.8 20.7 19.6 19.6 19.1 18.6 22.2 21.2 20.5 20.4 21.2 21.8 23.7 23.7 24.2 25.0 24.5 24.1 24.7 24.5 24.5

Effective Social Insurance Tax Rate

Lowest Quintile 6.7 6.7 7.2 7.1 7.3 7.3 8.0 8.0 8.3 8.9 9.1 9.3 9.2 9.1 8.9 8.9 8.9 8.9 9.0 9.1 9.2 8.9 8.9

Second Quintile 8.6 8.4 9.1 9.0 8.8 9.1 9.8 9.7 9.8 10.2 10.3 10.5 10.3 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.3 10.4 10.4 10.6 10.4 10.4

Middle Quintile 9.2 9.2 9.7 9.7 9.7 10.1 10.5 10.6 10.6 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.1 11.0 10.9 11.1 11.1 11.1 11.3 11.3 11.4 11.4 11.3

Fourth Quintile 9.4 9.4 10.1 10.0 10.0 10.4 10.8 11.0 10.9 11.4 11.2 11.6 11.5 11.4 11.2 11.3 11.5 11.4 11.5 11.5 11.4 11.5 11.5

Highest Quintile 6.6 6.7 7.4 7.6 7.7 7.9 7.8 7.7 8.1 7.9 8.0 8.1 8.5 8.3 8.6 8.7 8.6 8.4 8.0 7.9 7.8 7.6 8.5

 All 7.7 7.7 8.4 8.5 8.5 8.8 8.9 8.9 9.1 9.1 9.2 9.4 9.7 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.7 9.5 9.3 9.3 9.2 9.0 9.6

Top 10% 5.5 5.6 6.3 6.6 6.6 6.6 6.5 6.3 6.7 6.4 6.6 6.7 7.4 7.0 7.5 7.6 7.4 7.1 6.7 6.5 6.4 6.3 7.3

Top 5% 3.8 4.1 4.7 5.0 5.1 5.0 4.8 4.5 5.1 4.7 4.8 4.9 5.8 5.4 5.9 6.0 5.8 5.5 5.1 4.9 4.9 4.7 5.7

Top 1% 1.2 1.3 1.6 2.0 2.0 1.8 1.6 1.4 1.9 1.6 1.8 1.8 2.6 2.3 2.6 3.0 2.8 2.7 2.4 2.2 2.3 2.3 2.8

Effective Corporate Income Tax Rate

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Lowest Quintile 1.3 1.2 1.0 0.7 0.9 1.4 0.9 1.0 1.2 1.0 0.9 0.9 0.9 1.0 0.9 0.8 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.8 0.5

Second Quintile 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.7 0.9 0.7 0.7 0.9 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.4

Middle Quintile 1.1 1.0 0.8 0.5 0.7 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.9 0.9 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.7 0.7 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.4

Fourth Quintile 1.1 1.0 0.8 0.5 0.7 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.9 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.4

Highest Quintile 4.1 3.3 2.6 1.6 1.9 2.2 2.1 2.0 2.6 2.6 2.5 2.5 2.2 2.4 2.8 3.1 3.3 3.2 3.3 3.0 2.9 2.9 2.1

 All 2.8 2.3 1.8 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.6 1.5 1.9 2.0 1.8 1.8 1.6 1.8 2.0 2.2 2.3 2.3 2.3 2.1 2.0 2.0 1.4

Top 10% 5.4 4.3 3.3 2.0 2.5 2.8 2.7 2.6 3.3 3.4 3.2 3.2 2.9 3.1 3.6 4.1 4.2 4.1 4.2 3.8 3.7 3.6 2.7

Top 5% 7.4 5.7 4.5 2.7 3.3 3.8 3.6 3.3 4.4 4.4 4.1 4.1 3.7 4.1 4.8 5.4 5.5 5.3 5.3 4.9 4.6 4.5 3.5

Top 1% 12.1 9.4 7.7 4.8 5.6 6.3 5.8 5.1 6.9 6.4 6.2 6.2 6.0 6.1 7.6 8.7 8.6 7.9 7.6 7.1 6.5 6.2 5.5

Effective Excise Tax Rate

Lowest Quintile 2.1 1.8 1.7 1.9 2.4 2.4 2.7 2.5 3.3 3.0 2.5 2.8 2.8 3.1 3.0 3.4 2.9 2.6 2.5 2.5 2.7 2.5 2.9

Second Quintile 1.6 1.4 1.2 1.2 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.6 1.6 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.8 1.6 1.6 1.5 1.6 1.5 1.5

Middle Quintile 1.3 1.1 1.0 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.2 1.1 1.2 1.2 1.1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.3 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.2 1.3 1.2 1.2

Fourth Quintile 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.8 1.0 1.0 1.0 0.9 1.0 1.0 0.9 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.2 1.1 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0

Highest Quintile 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6

 All 1.0 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.8 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.0 1.1 1.0 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.8 0.9

Top 10% 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5

Top 5% 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4

Top 1% 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3

Source: Congressional Budget Office.

Effective tax rates are calculated by dividing taxes by comprehensive household income. A household consists of the people who share a housing unit, 

regardless of their relationships. A nonelderly childless household is one headed by a person under age 65 and with no member under age 18.

The income measure is comprehensive household income, which comprises pretax cash income plus income from other sources. Pretax cash income is the 

sum of wages, salaries, self-employment income, rents, taxable and nontaxable interest, dividends, realized capital gains, cash transfer payments, and 

retirement benefits plus taxes paid by businesses (corporate income taxes; the employer’s share of Social Security, Medicare, and federal 

unemployment insurance payroll taxes); and employees’ contributions to 401(k) retirement plans. Other sources of income include all in-kind benefits 

(Medicare, Medicaid, employer-paid health insurance premiums, food stamps, school lunches and breakfasts, housing assistance, and energy 

assistance). Households with negative income are excluded from the lowest income category but are included in totals.

Income categories are defined by ranking all people by their comprehensive household income adjusted for household size--that is, divided by the square root 

of the household’s size. Quintiles, or fifths, contain equal numbers of people.

Individual income taxes are distributed directly to households paying those taxes. Social insurance, or payroll, taxes are distributed to households paying 

those taxes directly or paying them indirectly through their employers. Corporate income taxes are distributed to households according to their share of 

capital income. Federal excise taxes are distributed to them according to their consumption of the taxed good or service.

 

Table 4B. 

Shares of Federal Tax Liabilities for Nonelderly Childless Households, by Comprehensive Household Income Quintile, 1979-2001

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Income 

Category 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

Share of Total Federal Tax Liabilities

Lowest Quintile 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.6 1.9 1.7 1.6 1.4 1.3 1.3 1.5 1.5 1.4 1.4 1.2 1.4 1.2 1.2 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.3

Second Quintile 4.9 4.7 4.8 4.7 4.7 5.1 5.1 4.7 4.8 4.7 4.8 4.7 4.7 4.3 4.3 4.4 4.4 4.3 4.2 4.2 4.2 4.1 4.1

Middle Quintile 9.2 9.3 9.7 9.5 9.8 10.0 9.9 9.7 9.4 8.9 9.7 9.4 9.5 9.3 9.1 9.0 9.2 8.8 8.6 8.5 8.3 8.3 8.2

Fourth Quintile 19.1 19.2 19.5 19.4 20.1 19.3 19.1 19.1 18.8 18.5 18.8 18.8 19.1 18.2 18.2 18.1 18.6 17.9 17.3 17.9 17.6 17.4 18.5

Highest Quintile 65.2 65.3 64.4 64.8 63.7 63.5 64.0 64.8 65.5 66.4 65.2 65.4 65.0 66.5 66.8 67.1 66.2 67.6 68.5 68.0 68.5 68.9 67.7

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Top 10% 46.5 45.7 44.8 44.5 44.3 44.1 44.5 45.5 46.1 47.8 46.1 46.8 47.0 48.9 48.9 49.5 49.4 50.4 51.5 51.0 52.1 53.1 51.0

Top 5% 31.5 30.7 29.4 29.0 29.2 29.6 30.2 31.1 31.6 34.2 32.2 33.0 33.0 35.0 35.3 35.9 35.6 37.1 38.4 38.1 39.5 40.5 37.7

Top 1% 14.6 13.3 11.7 12.3 12.4 13.2 14.0 14.7 14.9 18.0 15.8 17.0 16.0 18.6 18.1 19.5 18.9 20.4 22.2 22.1 22.6 23.8 20.3

Share of Individual Income Tax Liabilities

Lowest Quintile 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.5 0.3 0.3 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 -0.3 -0.3 -0.2 -0.2 -0.3 -0.3 -0.3 -0.5

Second Quintile 2.8 2.8 2.9 2.7 2.7 3.0 3.0 2.6 2.4 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.3 2.0 2.0 1.8 2.0 1.8 1.8 1.7 1.7 1.6 1.1

Middle Quintile 7.2 7.3 7.6 7.3 7.5 7.6 7.5 7.2 6.7 6.3 6.9 6.7 6.8 6.4 6.4 6.3 6.3 5.9 5.8 5.6 5.3 5.2 4.8

Fourth Quintile 17.5 17.4 17.7 17.2 17.7 17.0 16.7 16.3 15.6 15.0 15.7 15.5 15.9 14.8 15.0 15.0 15.3 14.4 13.7 14.2 13.7 13.4 14.2

Highest Quintile 72.2 72.2 71.4 72.5 71.8 71.9 72.5 73.7 75.2 76.4 75.0 75.3 74.9 76.8 76.7 77.3 76.7 78.1 78.9 78.9 79.5 80.1 80.3

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Top 10% 53.4 52.7 51.9 52.6 52.8 53.2 53.8 55.4 56.9 59.2 57.0 57.9 57.9 60.6 60.1 60.7 60.9 62.2 63.5 63.5 64.9 65.9 65.2

Top 5% 37.1 36.5 35.5 36.5 36.9 37.9 39.0 40.6 41.6 45.2 42.6 43.7 43.5 46.5 46.3 46.8 46.7 48.8 50.2 50.5 52.1 53.3 51.5

Top 1% 17.1 16.2 14.6 16.7 17.1 18.3 19.8 21.1 21.4 25.9 22.7 24.7 23.4 27.2 26.1 27.3 26.8 29.0 31.1 31.2 32.0 33.5 30.3

Share of Social Insurance Tax Liabilities

Lowest Quintile 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.6 2.5 2.9 2.6 2.6 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.5 2.5 2.4 2.7 2.5 2.6 2.8 2.9 2.7 2.7

Second Quintile 8.2 7.8 7.7 7.2 7.0 7.3 7.6 7.0 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.4 7.1 6.8 6.8 7.0 7.0 7.1 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.5 7.3

Middle Quintile 13.7 13.5 13.6 13.1 13.2 13.4 13.3 13.3 13.2 12.8 13.6 13.2 13.0 13.2 12.8 12.7 13.3 13.0 13.2 13.1 13.0 13.3 12.6

Fourth Quintile 25.6 25.3 24.7 23.9 24.7 24.0 24.0 24.5 24.7 24.9 24.5 24.7 24.5 24.2 24.0 23.9 24.8 24.4 24.3 25.1 24.9 25.1 25.1

Highest Quintile 49.6 50.5 51.1 53.1 52.5 52.4 52.3 52.5 52.4 52.5 51.7 52.1 52.7 53.2 53.9 53.9 52.1 52.8 52.5 51.5 51.6 51.3 52.2

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

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Top 10% 27.6 28.0 29.1 30.6 30.6 29.9 29.6 29.7 29.5 29.7 29.2 29.8 31.8 32.0 32.2 32.5 31.8 31.5 31.1 30.2 30.7 31.1 32.1

Top 5% 12.3 13.1 13.9 14.9 15.1 14.8 14.7 14.5 14.6 15.0 14.6 15.1 17.0 16.9 17.4 17.7 16.8 17.0 16.6 16.0 16.9 17.1 17.7

Top 1% 1.6 1.7 1.8 2.4 2.3 2.2 2.2 2.1 2.3 2.5 2.5 2.6 3.4 3.5 3.5 4.2 3.8 4.0 4.2 3.9 4.2 4.5 4.3

Share of Corporate Income Tax Liabilities

Lowest Quintile 1.5 1.6 1.7 2.0 2.0 3.0 1.8 1.9 1.6 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.6 1.4 1.1 0.9 1.3 1.0 0.9 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.0

Second Quintile 3.0 3.2 2.9 3.3 3.4 3.8 3.2 3.0 3.3 2.6 2.9 2.4 2.7 2.6 2.5 2.5 2.4 2.3 2.1 2.0 2.0 1.9 2.0

Middle Quintile 4.4 5.1 5.3 5.1 5.6 5.8 5.3 5.0 5.2 4.7 4.6 4.2 4.7 4.1 4.1 3.7 3.9 4.0 3.3 3.3 2.9 2.8 2.8

Fourth Quintile 8.1 8.7 9.1 9.0 10.0 9.5 8.7 8.6 9.2 8.3 8.6 7.8 8.2 7.0 7.6 7.0 7.3 7.3 6.5 6.6 7.0 6.3 6.2

Highest Quintile 82.5 81.0 80.4 79.8 78.3 76.9 80.0 80.5 79.2 81.9 81.3 82.5 81.1 83.0 83.0 84.0 83.4 84.2 86.0 86.3 86.1 87.0 86.5

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Top 10% 73.1 70.4 70.0 68.7 68.7 67.7 71.1 71.7 69.3 73.3 71.9 74.1 72.4 75.3 74.9 76.5 75.5 75.8 78.0 79.1 79.0 79.9 79.9

Top 5% 63.3 59.9 59.7 60.1 59.7 59.0 62.6 63.2 60.1 65.5 63.2 65.7 64.0 67.0 67.2 69.3 67.2 67.4 69.9 71.7 71.4 72.3 73.5

Top 1% 41.4 38.3 38.6 42.3 40.2 40.8 44.6 44.3 40.9 47.3 44.3 48.4 45.8 49.7 48.0 52.9 48.9 49.2 52.6 55.1 53.1 55.0 56.9

Share of Federal Excise Tax Liabilities

Lowest Quintile 7.0 7.0 7.2 7.5 7.8 8.6 8.5 8.4 8.6 8.1 7.3 8.6 8.2 8.3 8.1 8.3 8.4 7.7 8.0 8.2 8.5 8.4 9.6

Second Quintile 11.6 11.3 11.2 10.9 11.0 11.4 11.2 11.2 12.0 12.1 11.6 11.7 11.5 11.7 11.5 12.1 11.8 11.8 12.1 11.8 11.7 12.0 11.7

Middle Quintile 14.8 14.8 15.5 14.2 14.6 14.5 14.3 14.1 14.5 14.1 15.1 14.9 14.9 15.3 15.1 15.3 15.7 15.8 14.8 15.0 15.0 15.3 14.6

Fourth Quintile 21.5 21.4 20.9 21.3 22.3 21.5 20.6 20.6 21.8 22.5 22.5 22.2 22.8 22.1 21.7 22.3 23.5 22.7 22.2 22.9 22.8 22.6 23.4

Highest Quintile 44.5 44.9 44.2 45.6 43.5 43.3 44.6 45.0 42.5 42.8 42.9 42.1 42.1 41.9 42.7 41.1 39.9 41.4 42.2 41.7 41.7 41.4 40.0

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Top 10% 27.2 27.4 27.1 27.1 26.1 25.9 27.6 28.5 25.5 25.8 25.4 24.7 25.5 25.3 25.8 24.8 24.1 24.6 25.6 24.8 25.5 25.6 24.3

Top 5% 15.3 15.8 15.5 15.1 15.0 14.7 16.6 17.4 14.5 15.1 14.8 14.0 15.0 14.7 15.1 14.3 13.6 14.3 15.0 14.5 15.5 15.5 14.3

Top 1% 4.2 4.4 4.3 4.3 4.1 4.0 5.2 6.2 4.5 5.0 4.6 4.5 4.5 4.6 4.3 4.4 4.1 4.3 5.1 4.9 5.2 5.6 4.3

Source: Congressional Budget Office.

Effective tax rates are calculated by dividing taxes by comprehensive household income. A household consists of the people who share a housing unit, 

regardless of their relationships. A nonelderly childless household is one headed by a person under age 65 and with no member under age 18.

The income measure is comprehensive household income, which comprises pretax cash income plus income from other sources. Pretax cash income is the 

sum of wages, salaries, self-employment income, rents, taxable and nontaxable interest, dividends, realized capital gains, cash transfer payments, and 

retirement benefits plus taxes paid by businesses (corporate income taxes; the employer’s share of Social Security, Medicare, and federal 

unemployment insurance payroll taxes); and employees’ contributions to 401(k) retirement plans. Other sources of income include all in-kind benefits 

(Medicare, Medicaid, employer-paid health insurance premiums, food stamps, school lunches and breakfasts, housing assistance, and energy 

assistance). Households with negative income are excluded from the lowest income category but are included in totals.

Income categories are defined by ranking all people by their comprehensive household income adjusted for household size--that is, divided by the square root 

of the household’s size. Quintiles, or fifths, contain equal numbers of people.

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Individual income taxes are distributed directly to households paying those taxes. Social insurance, or payroll, taxes are distributed to households paying 

those taxes directly or paying them indirectly through their employers. Corporate income taxes are distributed to households according to their share of 

capital income. Federal excise taxes are distributed to them according to their consumption of the taxed good or service.

 

Table 4C. 

Number of Households, Average Pretax and After-Tax Income, Shares of Pretax and After-Tax Income, and Income Category Minimums for Nonelderly 

Childless Households, by Comprehensive Household Income Category, 1979-2001

Income 

Category 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

Number of Households (Millions)

Lowest Quintile 5.1 5.3 5.5 5.5 5.6 6.5 5.9 6.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.9 5.8 6.0 6.0 6.7 6.7 7.3 7.7 7.8 8.2 8.2

Second Quintile 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.2 5.5 5.7 6.0 5.8 6.5 6.7 6.6 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.3 6.6 6.5 6.9 7.1 7.4 7.5 7.9 8.0

Middle Quintile 5.3 5.5 5.8 5.8 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.6 6.7 7.1 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.1 7.2 7.4 7.4 7.6 7.8 7.9 8.4 8.2

Fourth Quintile 6.8 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.4 7.2 7.5 7.6 8.1 8.4 8.4 8.6 8.7 8.7 8.7 8.9 9.1 9.2 9.4 9.9 10.0 10.3 10.8

Highest Quintile 9.5 9.8 10.0 10.2 10.2 10.1 10.6 10.6 11.0 11.3 11.1 11.5 11.5 11.6 11.5 11.6 11.3 11.7 11.8 11.9 12.0 12.1 12.6

 All 32.0 32.8 33.8 33.9 34.9 35.8 36.4 36.7 37.7 38.8 38.9 39.3 39.9 39.9 39.8 40.6 41.2 42.1 43.3 44.8 45.4 47.1 48.0

Top 10% 5.0 5.1 5.3 5.3 5.3 5.2 5.4 5.4 5.5 5.7 5.6 5.8 6.0 6.0 5.9 5.9 5.9 5.9 5.9 5.9 6.1 6.3 6.5

Top 5% 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.5 2.6 2.5 2.6 2.6 2.6 2.8 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.9 2.9 2.8 2.7 2.9 2.8 2.8 2.9 3.0 3.2

Top 1% 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5

Average Income (2001 dollars)

Pretax Income

Lowest Quintile 11,000 10,500 10,400 10,100 9,600 10,200 10,200 10,400 10,200 10,600 10,900 11,200 11,300 11,200 10,900 11,000 11,300 11,000 11,100 11,600 12,300 11,600 11,900

Second Quintile 24,400 23,600 23,500 23,100 22,500 23,900 23,800 24,300 23,900 24,300 25,100 25,400 24,900 24,700 25,200 25,500 26,500 26,400 26,900 28,100 28,700 28,600 28,500

Middle Quintile 36,700 35,700 35,600 35,200 35,200 36,700 37,400 38,700 38,300 38,800 39,400 39,300 38,900 39,500 39,100 39,500 40,700 41,300 42,000 43,200 44,200 44,100 44,100

Fourth Quintile 52,300 51,300 51,800 51,600 52,000 54,000 54,700 56,800 57,300 57,900 58,500 57,900 57,400 57,900 58,000 58,800 60,100 61,300 62,100 64,400 66,100 66,400 65,700

Highest Quintile 103,900 101,300 101,300 102,700 105,300 112,100 115,200 126,000 121,700 132,400 131,200 130,400 125,500 131,300 128,100 131,800 136,400 142,100 152,300 159,800 168,100 174,500 157,400

 All 53,700 52,300 52,000 52,600 52,600 54,000 56,400 60,000 59,400 63,200 62,700 62,900 61,000 62,800 61,800 62,900 63,500 65,700 68,000 70,400 73,200 73,800 69,900

Top 10% 133,100 130,500 129,100 132,000 135,800 147,000 153,500 170,100 162,700 181,800 178,600 178,200 167,500 178,900 172,400 179,400 184,500 196,400 214,500 228,300 239,000 248,500 217,200

Top 5% 182,400 175,400 171,700 180,400 182,600 200,300 213,200 243,300 225,900 260,900 254,100 254,700 233,700 256,800 239,400 257,200 267,200 282,500 322,400 347,200 357,600 379,200 314,000

Top 1% 432,200 414,400 400,800 442,600 447,200 506,000 562,600 679,300 568,300 733,800 683,300 707,500 604,300 685,100 611,000 679,000 716,200 780,300 931,000 1,047,300 1,070,300 1,135,600 884,100

After-Tax Income

Lowest Quintile 9,700 9,400 9,200 9,000 8,400 8,900 8,900 9,100 8,900 9,200 9,500 9,700 9,800 9,700 9,500 9,700 10,000 9,800 9,800 10,300 10,900 10,400 10,700

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Second Quintile 20,500 19,700 19,500 19,500 19,000 20,000 19,800 20,300 20,000 20,300 21,000 21,100 20,800 20,800 21,100 21,300 22,200 22,200 22,500 23,700 24,100 24,100 24,400

Middle Quintile 29,500 28,600 28,300 28,400 28,500 29,500 29,900 31,000 30,800 31,100 31,600 31,400 31,200 31,800 31,400 31,700 32,700 33,100 33,700 34,700 35,500 35,500 36,200

Fourth Quintile 40,700 39,800 39,600 40,200 40,800 42,200 42,600 44,200 44,900 45,100 45,700 45,000 44,700 45,300 45,500 46,000 46,900 48,000 48,500 50,300 51,600 51,800 52,000

Highest Quintile 75,200 73,300 73,300 76,700 79,500 84,300 86,900 95,200 89,900 98,100 97,500 96,900 92,900 97,000 93,600 95,500 98,300 102,300 109,300 115,200 120,600 125,100 114,800

 All 40,600 39,500 39,100 40,500 40,800 41,700 43,500 46,300 45,400 48,100 48,000 48,000 46,500 47,800 46,900 47,400 47,800 49,400 50,900 53,000 54,900 55,400 53,400

Top 10% 94,200 92,600 92,100 97,700 101,800 109,600 115,000 127,900 118,300 133,000 131,300 131,000 122,400 130,200 123,300 126,900 129,900 137,900 150,600 161,200 167,900 174,800 155,200

Top 5% 125,400 121,900 120,800 132,600 135,800 148,100 158,800 182,700 161,500 188,700 185,100 185,500 168,600 184,200 167,200 176,900 183,300 193,200 220,900 240,000 246,300 261,400 219,900

Top 1% 274,800 272,500 274,500 319,800 324,000 363,500 410,900 506,000 390,000 517,300 486,300 504,800 422,400 476,000 401,700 436,500 459,300 500,700 606,200 695,400 709,400 758,000 591,200

Share of Income (Percent)

Pretax Income

Lowest Quintile 3.2 3.3 3.2 3.1 2.9 3.4 2.9 2.9 2.4 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.7 2.6 2.6 2.6 2.9 2.7 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.7 2.9

Second Quintile 7.3 7.1 7.1 6.8 6.7 7.1 6.9 6.4 6.9 6.7 6.8 6.6 6.7 6.4 6.4 6.6 6.6 6.6 6.5 6.6 6.5 6.5 6.8

Middle Quintile 11.4 11.4 11.8 11.4 11.6 11.6 11.4 11.1 11.3 10.7 11.4 11.1 11.3 11.3 11.3 11.2 11.6 11.1 10.9 10.7 10.5 10.6 10.8

Fourth Quintile 20.9 20.9 20.6 20.2 20.9 20.1 19.8 19.7 20.6 20.0 20.2 20.1 20.6 20.0 20.5 20.5 21.0 20.4 19.7 20.1 20.0 19.7 21.0

Highest Quintile 57.4 57.7 57.7 58.9 58.2 58.4 59.5 60.6 59.5 61.0 59.8 60.5 59.5 60.7 60.1 59.9 58.8 59.9 60.9 60.3 60.6 60.9 59.2

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Top 10% 38.7 38.5 38.7 39.4 39.6 39.5 40.5 42.0 40.1 42.4 41.0 41.9 41.4 42.9 41.5 41.6 41.3 42.0 43.3 43.0 43.8 44.7 42.3

Top 5% 24.4 24.6 24.6 25.2 25.5 25.8 27.1 28.5 26.3 29.4 27.9 28.8 28.1 29.5 28.4 28.3 28.1 29.2 30.5 30.5 31.7 32.6 29.7

Top 1% 9.7 9.5 9.2 10.2 10.1 10.6 11.9 13.1 11.3 14.5 12.9 14.1 12.7 14.5 12.8 13.5 13.1 14.2 16.0 16.3 16.7 17.9 14.5

After-Tax Income

Lowest Quintile 3.8 3.8 3.8 3.6 3.3 3.9 3.3 3.3 2.8 2.7 2.8 2.9 3.1 2.9 3.0 3.0 3.4 3.2 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.3 3.4

Second Quintile 8.1 7.9 7.8 7.4 7.3 7.7 7.5 6.9 7.6 7.3 7.5 7.2 7.3 7.1 7.1 7.4 7.4 7.4 7.2 7.4 7.3 7.3 7.6

Middle Quintile 12.1 12.0 12.4 11.9 12.1 12.1 11.8 11.5 11.9 11.2 11.9 11.6 11.9 11.9 11.9 11.9 12.3 11.8 11.6 11.4 11.2 11.4 11.6

Fourth Quintile 21.4 21.4 21.0 20.4 21.2 20.3 20.1 19.8 21.1 20.4 20.6 20.5 21.0 20.6 21.2 21.3 21.8 21.3 20.6 20.9 20.8 20.5 21.8

Highest Quintile 54.9 55.2 55.5 57.2 56.7 56.8 58.2 59.3 57.7 59.3 58.1 58.9 57.7 58.8 57.9 57.6 56.4 57.4 58.4 57.7 57.9 58.2 56.5

 All 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Top 10% 36.2 36.2 36.7 37.9 38.2 38.1 39.4 40.9 38.2 40.8 39.5 40.4 39.7 41.0 39.2 39.0 38.7 39.2 40.6 40.3 41.1 41.9 39.6

Top 5% 22.2 22.6 23.0 24.1 24.4 24.7 26.1 27.7 24.6 27.9 26.5 27.5 26.6 27.8 26.1 25.9 25.6 26.5 27.9 28.0 29.1 29.9 27.3

Top 1% 8.2 8.3 8.4 9.6 9.4 9.9 11.3 12.7 10.2 13.4 12.0 13.2 11.6 13.2 11.1 11.5 11.1 12.1 13.9 14.4 14.8 15.9 12.7

Minimum Adjusted Income (2001 dollars)

Lowest Quintile 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Second Quintile 14,800 14,200 14,000 13,600 13,000 13,800 13,900 14,100 13,600 13,900 14,300 14,600 14,600 14,200 14,400 14,600 15,300 15,000 15,400 16,200 16,600 16,200 16,300

Middle Quintile 23,400 22,700 22,500 22,000 21,800 22,700 23,100 23,800 23,700 24,200 24,600 24,600 24,100 24,200 24,300 24,700 25,500 25,800 26,100 27,100 27,700 27,500 27,600

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Fourth Quintile 32,100 31,200 31,500 31,100 31,100 32,500 33,000 34,100 34,300 35,000 35,400 35,200 34,800 35,100 35,100 35,900 36,500 37,000 37,600 39,000 39,800 40,000 39,800

Highest Quintile 44,800 43,800 44,200 44,200 44,600 46,400 47,100 49,200 49,800 50,800 51,500 50,800 50,000 50,700 51,100 51,900 53,200 54,300 55,600 57,700 59,400 60,000 59,400

Top 10% 57,300 56,600 56,700 57,000 57,700 60,800 61,900 64,800 65,700 67,300 68,300 67,100 66,100 67,300 67,700 68,700 71,100 73,100 75,300 78,500 80,800 82,300 80,300

Top 5% 72,700 71,100 71,800 71,400 73,100 77,200 79,200 84,100 84,000 86,400 88,500 87,100 85,600 88,300 88,000 89,900 93,600 96,300 101,000 105,400 108,600 111,400 107,300

Top 1% 142,200 138,000 136,000 136,700 142,700 152,600 158,700 184,300 172,900 186,100 188,700 180,000 176,500 186,700 183,600 189,200 201,200 212,400 225,500 240,600 256,600 264,300 238,000

Source: Congressional Budget Office.

Effective tax rates are calculated by dividing taxes by comprehensive household income. A household consists of the people who share a housing unit, 

regardless of their relationships. A nonelderly childless household is one headed by a person under age 65 and with no member under age 18.

The income measure is comprehensive household income, which comprises pretax cash income plus income from other sources. Pretax cash income is the 

sum of wages, salaries, self-employment income, rents, taxable and nontaxable interest, dividends, realized capital gains, cash transfer payments, and 

retirement benefits plus taxes paid by businesses (corporate income taxes; the employer’s share of Social Security, Medicare, and federal 

unemployment insurance payroll taxes); and employees’ contributions to 401(k) retirement plans. Other sources of income include all in-kind benefits 

(Medicare, Medicaid, employer-paid health insurance premiums, food stamps, school lunches and breakfasts, housing assistance, and energy 

assistance). Households with negative income are excluded from the lowest income category but are included in totals.

Income categories are defined by ranking all people by their comprehensive household income adjusted for household size--that is, divided by the square root 

of the household’s size. Quintiles, or fifths, contain equal numbers of people.

Individual income taxes are distributed directly to households paying those taxes. Social insurance, or payroll, taxes are distributed to households paying 

those taxes directly or paying them indirectly through their employers. Corporate income taxes are distributed to households according to their share of 

capital income. Federal excise taxes are distributed to them according to their consumption of the taxed good or service.

The minimum adjusted income is the lower income boundary for each quintile.

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