Despite top Democrats such as self-declared democratic socialist Senator Bernie Sanders, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, as well as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calling for the rich to pay their “fair share,” the top 10 percent of all earners in the country—in reality—pay the vast majority of taxes.

The top 1 percent is railed against frequently by those on the left, whether that is Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, or other wealthy individuals. That top 1 percent of all income earners alone pays 40 percent of taxes, according to Internal Revenue Service data.

The top 10 percent of earners pay around 70 percent of all federal income taxes, meanwhile, about half of all Americans pay little to no federal income tax each year. Despite these figures, politicians such as Ocasio-Cortez, Sanders, and others have repeatedly claimed that the rich do not pay their “fair share” of taxes.

In an op-ed published at The Guardian earlier in April, Sanders claimed that the tax code is “totally rigged” to benefit the rich.

“Why, in a nation of such extraordinary wealth, exploding technology and greatly increased worker productivity, are so many people struggling just to stay alive?” Sanders asked rhetorically in the piece.

“One of the major reasons is that we have a tax code that is totally rigged – written by representatives of the wealthy to benefit the wealthy. Instead of raising enough revenue to meet the needs of working families, corporate lobbyists have riddled the tax code with loopholes, allowing the wealthiest people and largest corporations in our country to avoid paying their fair share,” he added.

He also claimed that “billionaires now pay a lower effective tax rate than the average worker.” Mamdani, as well as Ocasio-Cortez, have made similar claims.

Just recently, Ocasio-Cortez railed against billionaires, claiming that they can’t “earn a billion dollars,” and that the only way people such as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have earned a billion dollars is through exploitation. Mamdani likewise has recently doubled down on anti-rich sentiment when Ken Griffin said he would take Citadel to Miami. 

However, those who reach the top of the income ladder in the US are usually self-made. According to a number of studies, around 80 percent of millionaires were not born into wealth and did not receive an inheritance.