Debunking the "Billionaires pay a lower tax rate than average Americans" lie

In a rational, informed America, anyone peddling this lie would be instantly ridiculed. In our America, it is peddled from the highest perches of politics & "news," without consequence. Until now.

Mar 15, 2026

By Jon Sutz, March 14, 2026

Update March 19, 2026: I was interviewed on Virginia radio station WTON regarding this report. Listen here (13 minutes).

You’ve probably seen some version of this allegation:

“Billionaires pay a lower tax rate than the rest of America’s taxpayers, new study finds.” – CBS News, August 27, 2025
“Billionaires pay lower tax rate than the middle class.” – Sen. Bernie Sanders on X, September 28, 2020
“For the first time in history, U.S. billionaires paid a lower tax rate than the working class.” – Washington Post headline, October 8, 2019
“Jeff Bezos gets enough tax loopholes that he pays at a lower rate than a public school teacher.” – Sen. Elizabeth Warren, March 19, 2024

But is this allegation true?

No. It is so insanely upside-down false that it’s almost unfathomable that in an age in which more information is available to more Americans, for free or at low cost, than at any point in our history, that anyone would even dare to publicly utter such a lie.

The problem is, if you live outside of the DC bubble, and are among the 87% of American TV news consumers who do not watch Fox News Channel, chances are you’ve never seen any substantive challenge to this lie. The evidence to prove this is a lie is publicly available (and has been for a long time). It just has not been introduced to the American people in a way that is visible to, and makes sense to the average person. So the evidence sits in what amount to vaults, beyond the public view.

As a result, this lie has been allowed to metastasize like a cancer, spreading through a body whose immune system is either not working — or has been reprogrammed to help dangerous invaders, to the point where 60% of Americans now believe some variant of it. Young Americans, in particular, are being convinced that the US tax code is so corrupt, that the money that’s deducted from their paychecks is what enables the top 1% to lead lives of luxury.

In late 2025, based on my unsolicited proposal, a free-market think tank in DC, the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, commissioned me to:

Research and design a short series of infographics that would debunk this lie
Do so in a way that is understandable and persuasive to, and verifiable by, the average American

Below is the three-infographic slide show I produced. See my full report, with all data sources and further evidence, at JonSutz.com/TheTaxRateLie. Note that in Section 5 of my report, I profile 11 peddlers of this lie — including President Biden, CBS News, Bernie Sanders and others — and provide their contact information.