This large share of income earned and taxes paid by the top 1 percent is nothing new, but over the past 20 years both percentages have slowly, steadily increased. Other Forms of Income Two forms of taxes commonly thought to add to the progressivity of the tax code should be treated with particular caution. Corporate taxes are collected by the government from corporations, but these taxes are ultimately paid by the corporations' shareholders, customers, and employees in the form of lower share value, higher prices, and lower wages. Even if one assumed, as some economic studies do, that corporate taxes fall only on shareholders, it is false to claim that the corporate tax burden is paid only by the wealthy. The Federal Reserve reports that over 48 percent of Americans now own shares of stock.
Estate taxes are quite similar to corporate taxes.
Like a corporation, an estate is a legal entity, not a tax-paying person. The government collects money from the legal entity, which then distributes less money to the heirs than it would have. Even if one assumed that dead people could pay taxes, the notion that only the wealthy would benefit from ending estate taxes would be false. For more information . . . Indiana and a Progressive Tax Structure.