October 17, 2008 
As we talk about the economy and its effects on healthcare, it begs the question of what the average US family makes per year. Averages are what we typically see versus median. Median means that 1/2 of the families make more and 1/2 of the families make less. The averages are often skewed by populations at the ends of the spectrum (i.e., the people making millions). This article says that according to IRS data that 50% of the US makes below $32,000.
New statistics from the Internal Revenue Service show that the highest-earning 1% of taxpayers in America make 22.06% of all income reported to the government. That’s almost twice the 12.51% of total income earned collectively by the lowest-earning 50% of workers. Yes, 1.4 million taxpayers claim 22% of income earned while 68 million share just 12.5%.
But get this: When it comes to taxes paid, an even wider discrepancy shows itself, in reverse. Those earners in the top 1% pay 39.89% of all federal individual income taxes. The bottom 50% of earners pay just 2.99% of those taxes. (Source article)
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