Wednesday is Tax Day in America, and if you're wondering how much the government is collecting from your economic peers and those in higher and lower income brackets, the Brookings Institution has you covered. In the video below, David Wessel, director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy, uses Legos to quantify how much each quintile of taxpayers earns, how much they send to Uncle Sam, and how much they have left over.
America's progressive tax system shrinks the gap between the wealthy and the poor "some," Wessel says, "but even after taxes, the distribution of income in the United States remains substantially unequal." Whether or not you think it fair that the IRS takes 70 Legos from people in the richest 1 percent of the population but only one thin brick from the bottom 20 percent, this is a pretty helpful way to visualize a fairly dry data set with important policy implications. Watch below. —Peter Weber
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
What It Feels Like for a Girl: a 'fearless and compelling' coming-of-age dramaThe Week Recommends Ellis Howard dazzles in this 'sharply written' adaptation of Paris Lees' memoir
-
Sports betting is causing athletes to be abused and harassed onlineUnder the radar Baseball players, tennis stars and others have raised the alarm
-
Crossword: June 4, 2025The Week's daily crossword
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutinySpeed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
-
Starbucks baristas strike over dress codespeed read The new uniform 'puts the burden on baristas' to buy new clothes, said a Starbucks Workers United union delegate
-
Warren Buffet announces surprise retirementspeed read At the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, the billionaire investor named Vice Chairman Greg Abel his replacement
-
Trump calls Amazon's Bezos over tariff displaySpeed Read The president was not happy with reports that Amazon would list the added cost from tariffs alongside product prices
-
Markets notch worst quarter in years as new tariffs loomSpeed Read The S&P 500 is on track for its worst month since 2022 as investors brace for Trump's tariffs
-
Tesla Cybertrucks recalled over dislodging panelsSpeed Read Almost every Cybertruck in the US has been recalled over a stainless steel panel that could fall off
-
Crafting emporium Joann is going out of businessSpeed Read The 82-year-old fabric and crafts store will be closing all 800 of its stores
-
Trump's China tariffs start after Canada, Mexico pausesSpeed Read The president paused his tariffs on America's closest neighbors after speaking to their leaders, but his import tax on Chinese goods has taken effect
