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.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Empty-nest boomers aren't selling their big homesSpeed Read Most Americans 60 and older do not intend to move, according to a recent survey
-
Brazil accuses Musk of 'disinformation campaign'Speed Read A Brazilian Supreme Court judge has opened an inquiry into Elon Musk and X
-
Disney board fends off Peltz infiltration bidSpeed Read Disney CEO Bob Iger has defeated activist investor Nelson Peltz in a contentious proxy battle
-
Disney and DeSantis reach detenteSpeed Read The Florida governor and Disney settle a yearslong litigation over control of the tourism district
-
Visa and Mastercard agree to lower swipe feesSpeed Read The companies will cap the fees they charge businesses when customers use their credit cards
-
Reddit IPO values social media site at $6.4 billionSpeed Read The company makes its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange
-
Housing costs: the root of US economic malaise?speed read Many voters are troubled by the housing affordability crisis
-
Feds cap credit card late fees at $8speed read The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule to save households an estimated $10 billion a year
