Eat The Rich...

 The median single yearly income in America now is $48, 600. This is the average reported gross income (before taxes) here in the US. This income covers the vast majority (over 70%)of working adults. The tax rate on this income, as of 2026, is $5,578 + 22% of the gross income.

This means, when we do the math, that a working single adult making $48,600 will have to pay the following:
$5,578 + $10,692= $16,270

That means that total they get to take home every year is only $32,330 IF you don't take into account the average state taxes of $4800 (15% of your gross income), which would THEN give you $27,480/year.

For the HIGHEST based bracket, if you make over $626,000/year, you would pay $188,780 + 37%. So, if you made $650,000, the math would be:
$188,780 + $240,500 = $429,280 for Federal income tax

This would mean that the gross federal income would be $220,720. $123,220 after 15% state taxes.
And I get it... That top tier tax seems like a presumptuous amount of money to expect from people paying taxes when they're "just trying to get by"... But, lets look at how the majority of people on a base income (or lower) survive in the US:

The Federal poverty level income says that, for a single person to be considered at poverty level, they can't make more than 100% of $15,960 (excluding AK and HI) of their net income. That qualifies them for SNAP and Medicaid or Medicare benefits (depending on age and/or disability status). If they make more than 138% of that GROSS ($22,000), SNAP benefits are removed.

So, the majority of single full-time working adults are not qualified for SNAP benefits (full-time being 32 hours or most in most states). The average rental cost for Americans is $2,000/month, and the average amount of groceries for a single person is $300. 

Utilities - electric now on average is $100, and some sort of electric and/or phone connection is now also needed at $60 (avg, if you aren't locked into a plan and can pay a per-pay option). Bus pass is $60/month (if you don't have car payments, insurance, and gas for that).

Let's do the math for the average worker, then.
2,000 + 300 + $160 + $60 =$2,520

Monthly NET income: $2,290

Oh...oh dear... Well, then. That means you're now going to have to figure out another way to get one of those things covered, because you're working now at a deficit of $230.

OK, but...things have to look equally bad for the top tier, right?

So, $123,220 net income, you're making $10,268/month.

If you're renting an average apartment of $2,000, and have the same basic needs covered as the minimum income listed above, you'd be working with... $7,700/month in the positive, for things like your Netflix subscription, some avocado toast, and that occasional doordash meal as a splurge...

Now, there's a reason Bezos made SUCH a huge deal about "only" accepting an $89,000/yr salary from Amazon. It meant that the rest of his corporate and generational wealth could safely stay in stock market and 401k options that are taxed much differently from how the rest of us are.

Basically, Capital Gains taxes are the taxes on sale of stocks, mutual funds, or ETF (of you don't know what any or most of these are, it's probably because you can't afford to trade anyway). So a song as the majority of your wealth is locked there, you won't be taxed on it.

However - you can use that "imagined" wealth as collateral to borrow from banks for more things you want, like big houses, yachts, and cars. This is known as the Borrow, Buy, Die plan, which the top 1 - 2% follow. So, they never actually pay as much as the average American pays.

So the bottom line is that no - these two things don't look the same when we look at both the gross AND the net income, and include the general cost of living.

Not discussed here is "Married Filing Jointly", started in 1948, which looks a little different, but not by much - there still is a top bracket, the top bracket STILL ends up taking home much more than the average worker does, and they STILL have more options on squirreling away that extra money to make even more money.

Top marginal tax rates over the years in the US:

https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/expert-insights/whole-ball-of-tax-historical-income-tax-rates

US individual state income tax rates at the highest bracket of wealth:

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/IITTRHB

Tax brackets in 2035:

https://taxrate.org/federal-income-tax-rates/