The income tax is only one tax. There are a multitude of taxes. I want to know who is paying what percentage of the total tax burden. For one example, social security and medicare taxes (raided for the general fund) bites the middle class and low wage earners for 15% of their income while for the very rich they pay almost nothing  relatively speaking. Other taxes like sales tax, fuel tax, property tax etc. Takes a much bigger chunk from the middle class than the upper class by comparison.