Scott Hodge

In recent testimony before the Senate Budget Committee, international studies were quoted showing the wealthy in America pay more of the nation's tax burden than in any other industrialized country, giving the U.S. "the most progressive income tax system" in the world.

Earlier this month, Scott Hodge, president of the non-partisan Tax Foundation, testified before the committee, showing that the top 1 percent of taxpayers in the U.S. now pays a greater share of the income tax burden than the bottom 90 percent combined.

"As of 2008, the top 1 percent of taxpayers paid 38 percent of all income taxes, while the bottom 90 percent of taxpayers paid just 30 percent of theincome tax burden," Hodge explained. "By any measure, this is the sign of a very progressive tax system."

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Hodge was quoting studies by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD, which analyzes a wide array of economic factors around the world.

Hodge pointed out that because "tax expenditures" – meaning credits and deductions that reduce or refund the amount tax-filers owe – are rising, fewer and fewer Americans actually pay taxes, leaving the wealthy to shoulder an increasing percentage of the national tax burden.

"There is a common belief that because so many tax expenditures benefit upper-income taxpayers, the 'rich' are not paying their fair share of taxes," Hodge said. "Nothing could be further from the truth."...