The Failure of Private Equity Investments at NYCERS

Below are two screen shots from the June 17, 2025 NYCERS Investment meeting. The charts displayed were prepared by the Comptroller's office and presented to the NYCERS trustees.

The first chart alleges to show the rate of return on alternative investments in the NYCERS investment portfolio. The second chart alleges to show the rate of return relative to their targets measured in plus or minus basis points.

The Comptroller provided no documentation on how the amounts were arrived at. I consider the amounts in these charts to be inflated because the values listed were provided by the general partners running the individual investments and are just estimates.

But even accepting the figures as correct, we see a huge problem with the private equity class. For over ten years it has been 300 basis points (3%) under its target of the Russell 300 plus 300 basis points.

In plain English, NYCERS private equity investments performed exactly like a Russel 3000 index fund.

As of June 30, 2024 NYCERS reported:

• a Russel 1000 index fund worth $12.9B
  • with an investment fee of only $269,000 for FY-2024, and
• private equity investments at a value of $8.46B
  • with $163.4 million in investement fees plus $64.8 million in organizational costs for FY-2024.

On top of this obvious performance failure, the index fund is totally liquid and pays dividends every year from all the stock holdings in the fund.

The trustees are aware of this situation but continue to hire private equity managers. They did, however, dump some private equity managers in March of this year.

Coverup of the Problems with the NYCERS’s Legacy Replacement Project

NYCERS posts videos of its regular monthly board meetings on its website. There are two videos for each meeting .

The first video, Part 1, is a every short clip of only an opening roll call and a motion to go into executive session to hear disability cases and litigation issues. The second video, Part 2, starts with a return to public session and all the items which need to be addressed in public session. The second video usually runs for about 45 minutes but can be shorter.

One of the items that is currently being addressed in public session is the status of the Legacy Replacement Project (LRP). This project is extremely expensive and seriously behind schedule.

Long story short, the LRP contract with Accenture is now projected to be four years late, 2030 rather than 2026 and a detailed resource plan supporting the new 2030 date has already missed its June, 2025 delivery date. NYCERS has paid Accenture approximately $85 million since 2021 and $65 million in secondary costs.

The May 9, 2025, Board Meeting

At the end of the regular LRP status presentation by the NYCERS LRP project manager, a Board member directed a question at the project manager:

“We heard in a prior presentation that, I guess how I would describe it, that there was a lack of wholehearted commitment on at least part of the Accenture team and maybe at the higher levels in terms of the things we would like to see in terms of… therefore…How does that translate down to the NYCERS staff working with the Accenture people. Are they pulling their punches and are they giving it their all?”

(interruption by the Chairperson):

“and so, thanks for the question, I ask you (the project manager) to be mindful in your response that we are in in public session.
“It may be the case that we should have this as an offline conversation.”

After the following silence and subdued laughter, the trustees moved on to the next topic.

Based on the Chairperson’s comments and the silence of all the other trustees, it is clear that the Board is aware of the fiasco surrounding the LRP project and are intent on keeping the problem under wraps.

Time for the Department of Investigation

I recently posted about the incompetence surrounding the LRP project. There now is evidence of a coverup surrounding the LRP project. It is definitely time for Department of Investigation to look into this project.

PR Nonsense from the NYCERS FY-2026 Budget Report on the LRP project

MAJOR TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS/DIGITALIZATION

Legacy Replacement Project (LRP)

The Legacy Replacement Project (LRP) is a transformative, five-phase project to build a new pension administration system. As part of NYCERS’ overall strategic vision, LRP will streamline and automate operational processes and enhance the client experience. In Phase 0, NYCERS and its system integrator completed an overall project assessment, followed by Phase 1, the implementation of foundational changes, in January 2023.

During Phase 2 execution, the team encountered challenges including design delays, complex configuration needs, unforeseen technology compatibility issues, and difficulties in decommissioning the legacy system. As a result, the team decided to deploy the completed Phase 2 functionality as a separate, smaller phase (Phase 2.0). Phase 2.0 successfully deployed on January 21, 2025 as planned, delivering improvements to document management, security, and agency tools. NYCERS and its system integrator are currently replanning the remaining program scope to mitigate risks and ensure a high-quality outcome. The replanning is expected to be completed by June 30, 2025, with the combined Phases 2 and 3 beginning immediately thereafter. The program is now anticipated to be completed by December 2030.

Recap of the NYCERS Administrative Budget for FY-2026

By the Numbers

On June 12, 2025, the NYCERS trustess adopted the FY-2026 admin budget.

• The budget dropped from $166.0M to $165.8M.
  • Salaries increased from $53.7M to $55.9M.
  • Friinge increased from $16.5M to $17.7M.
  • OTPS decreased from $95.96M to $92.3M

NYCERS has officially stated that the Legacy Replacement Project (LRP) is "anticpated" to be completed by December 2030. That is a four and half year delay on a project that started in 2015. In addition there is yet no detail plan how this project will be completed by this date.

Highlights of the Other Than Personnel Services (OTPS) Expenses

****

Category	FY-2025	FY-2026
General expense	$15.64M	$18.15M
Security	$915K	$915K
Busines Recovery	$3.10M	$3.65M
Mainframe	$1.51M	$1.76M
Non-Maineframe	$19.91M	$24.71M
LRP and Upgrades	$54.82M	$43.12M

Highlights of the OTPS Budget

In light of the fiasco with LRP project I want to point that the Accenture line item was reduced this year from $18.7M (2025) to $10.8M (2026). As background for this contract which began in FY-2021, the following amounts have been budgeted to Accenture for the LRP contract:

• FY-2021: $826K
• FY-2022: $19.32 million
• FY-2023: $23.06 million
• FY-2024: $23.19 million
• FY-2025: $18.7 million
• FY-2026: $10.8 million

In addition to the amounts paid to Accenture, NYCERS (in conjunction with the Accenture's work) contracted with Penfax for an off the shelf piece of software that Accenture is customizinge for NYCERS. The amounts budgeted for Penfax are:

• FY-2021: $3.06 million
• FY-2022: $3.18 million
• FY-2023: $3.59 million
• FY-2024: $3.99 million
• FY-2025: $4.19 million + $200,000 dev. licenses
• FY-2026: $3.99 million + $200,000 dev. licenses

Just for laughs NYCERS increased its budget for

• contract COBOL programmers from $2.0 million to $3.26 million.
• the Garnter contract from $1.76 million to $2.64 million

NYCERS has maintained or decreased its budget for the following major LRP items:

• QA Vendor from $1.37 million to $1.37 million
• QA Testers from $2.90 million to $2.90 million
• Data Analysts from $2.09 million to $2.09 million
• Project Managers from $3.26 million to $2.44 million
• Business Analysts from $2.76 million to $1.74 million
• Risk Consultant from $700,000 to $700,000

There was also a significant reduction in the contingency item in the LRP project:

• from $9.14 million to $5.50 million

This is a strange item to have in the budget since the Board has the authority to modify the budget during the year if needed. Because of this item, the OTPS did not really decrease by $3.6B in 2026 but is almost the same as in 2025.

The Salesforce/Accenture Application

Prior to the LRP contract Accenture installed a customized Salesforce CRM application at NYCERS.
The current budgeted cost for that application was $5.78 million in FY-2025 and is $7.38 million in FY-2026.

I can not get my mind around this total insanity. Just paying the bills for all this garbage would kill you.

History from FY-1996 to FY-2026

History of NYCERS Admin Budget 1996-2026

Fiscal Year	F/T Count	P/T Count	College Aides / Hourly	PS Budget	OTPS Budget	Fringe	Total	% Increase
2026	501	30	16	$55,860520	$92,309,697	$17,663,655	$165,833,872	-00.0013%
2025	501	30	16	$53,679,194	$95,900,865	$16,461,953	$166,042,012	00.05%
2024	501	30	16	$54,290,508	$98,040,138	$13,633,903	$165,964,549	13.37%
2023	485	30	16	$43,016,089	$90,436,500	$12,942,144	$146,394,733	7.92%
2022	483	30	16	$38,397,943	$85,531,063	$11,719,465	$135,648,471	37.94%
2021	474	27	16	$36,842,549	$50,210,145	$11,283,945	$98,336,639	7.10%
2020	438	27	16	$35,262,139	$45,862,557	$10,689,350	$91,814,046	4.97%
2019	428	5	30	$33,592,612	$43,532,302	$10,344,565	$87,469,479	39.44%
2018	415	5	30	$31,704,410	$21,832,718	$9,194,015	$62,731,143	3.55%
2017	401	5	30	$31,056,080	$20,916,796	$8,605,288	$60,578,164	4.81%
2016	392	5	30	$30,233,989	$19,407,619	$8,155,517	$57,797,125	4.70%
2015	392	5	30	$29,131,972	$18,154,572	$7,915,476	$55,202,020	3.68%
2014	383	5	30	$26,813,635	$18,761,240	$7,669,819	$53,244,694	2.18%
2013	380	5	20	$26,623,635	$17,951,822	$7,532,499	$52,107,956	1.93%
2012	372	12	0	$25,756,827	$18,781,428	$6,603,649	$51,122,139	1.14%
2011	372	12	0	$26,046,827	$18,492,228	$6,006,573	$50,545,628	2.76%
2010	372	12	0	$26,046,827	$17,777,228	$5,362,640	$49,186,695	1.88%
2009	371	13	0	$25,189,842	$18,208,861	$4,879,903	$48,278,606	6.22%
2008	371	13	0	$23,597,857	$17,259,313	$4,799,066	$45,656,236	10.80%
2007	364	13	0	$22,616,783	$14,258,471	$4,375,788	$41,251,042	5.73%
2006	342	13	0	$20,255,911	$14,683,855	$4,076,823	$39,016,589	1.01%
2005	342	13	0	$19,737,687	$14,851,355	$3,887,624	$38,476,666	***
2004	334	13	0					***
***								***
1996	154	0	30	$6,199,709	$2,573,715	na	$8,773,424	***

NYC - Exploding Costs for Employees Health Insurance

In the June 6th, 2025 issue of the Chief, the New York City announced the start of negotiations with EmblemHealth/UnitedHealthcare for a new health insurance plan for employees and non-Medicare retirees.

Warning: United Healthcare is being investigated by the federal government for Medicare/Medicaid fraud ae per a WSJ article May 15, 2025.

The City's current carrier is EmblemHealth/Anthem-Empire Blue Cross. The City will still be using EmblemHealth but has changed from Anthem to UnitedHealthcare for hospital coverage.

Current Cost Problems

It is clear from the chart below (based on NYC-OLR data) that the City has a serious cost inflation problem with the current EmblemHealth insurance coverage. It is, however, not clear whether this is an industry problem or is it a problem made worse by EmblemHealth's operations. In either case the City has an exploding cost problem.

Another scary piece of data is that it appears that Emblemhealth is almost totally dependent on the City for revenues.

EmblemHealth had reported premium revnue of:

• $8.33B in 2022 and
• $7.726B in 2023.

See report on page 6.

The City (plus HHC and Housing) paid EmblemHealth (GHI and HIP) $9,678M in FY-2024 as per OLR's reporting.

The primary problem with the NYC GHI-CBP health insurance plan for employees and non-Medicare retirees is increasing costs.

• In 2014 the City paid $3.416 billion in premiums for GHI-CBP and
  
• in 2024 that amount had increased to $7.927 billion.

That is an 113% increase over 11 years with a 13,000 decrease in employees and an increase of 5,000 in non-Medicare retirees.

Medicare vs EmblemHeath

In contrast to EmblemHealth, in 2015 Medicare spent $10,581 for both Part A plus Part B benefits per beneficiary and in 2023 Medicare spent $14,253 per beneficiary.

That is a 34.7% increase. (2024 Medicare Trustees Report – page 195).

As of the 2015 - 2023 period, the City’s total cost for GHI-CBP was $3.772 billion in 2015 and $6.861 billion in 2023.

That is an 81.9% increase.

In addition to lower cost increases, Medicare is a more effective plan than GHI-CBP and covers a higher risk population.

It would be very interesting if Medicare were able to administer the health claims for the City's employees and non-Medicare retirees and the City reimbursed Medicare.

The Participation Problem

There is also a secondary problem of a shrinking group of participating doctors and hospitals:

• In the NYC metro area
• In the rest of the USA.

I assume these issues are tied into the reimbursement schedules and operating problems between providers and Emblemhealth.

Over the last 11 years the City has obviously not been able to resolve this cost issue between the City and Emblemhealth and it is not clear how the City can resolve it now.

$5 Billion Fire Sale for the New York City Pension Funds

On Tuesday, May 27, the Comptroller issued the followowing release:

New York, NY — New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and trustees of the five public pension systems announced the successful completion of a landmark $5 billion private equity secondary sale across the City’s systems today. This transaction, initiated in December 2024 and finalized this month, represents one of the nation’s largest ever pension-led secondary sales.

The following news clip provides a little more detail:

Blackstone’s Strategic Partners has acquired a $5bn private equity portfolio from the New York City Retirement Systems, marking one of the largest secondary transactions ever completed by a US public pension, according to Bloomberg. The transaction includes approximately 450 limited partnership interests across 125 funds managed by 75 general partners. According to a statement from the NYC Comptroller’s Office, the sale forms part of a strategic portfolio realignment rather than a liquidity-driven divestment.

The formal auction, which launched in December 2024, attracted over 80 secondary market participants. Evercore acted as financial advisor, with Morgan Lewis providing legal counsel. While financial terms were not disclosed, secondary transactions of this scale are typically completed at a discount to NAV, reflecting the complexity and illiquidity of mature fund stakes.

The deal comes amid a surge in secondary market activity as institutional investors seek to rebalance private equity allocations amid slower M&A and IPO exits, higher interest rates, and limited distributions. The NYC Retirement Systems’ private equity returns have underperformed national peers, with fiscal year 2024 gains of 4–5%, compared to 10.9% at CalPERS and 8.6% at CalSTRS.

With over $270bn in AUM across five pension funds serving teachers, civil employees, firefighters, police, and education workers, the NYC Retirement Systems’ sale signals a potential re-evaluation of long-term private market exposure.

Blackstone’s Strategic Partners, which has raised over $67bn across asset classes, continues to cement its position as one of the largest players in the secondaries market.

According to the June 30, 2024 NYC annual financial statement, the five city pension funds allegedly had $67.2 billion in alternative investments.

The big question is how much of loss did the pension funds absorb because of the sale. The Comptroller has not given any accounting details.

Tax Reform for the 99% and Fixing the Federal Deficit

Towards th end of this post is a chart of the current Trump marginal tax rates for 2025 along with more fair and progressive marginal rates. Below that chart is an other chart with details of the federal income tax collected for 2022. The current Trump rates were put in place in 2018 and scheduled to stop in 2025. Trump is pushing to make them permanent.

If you compare the two sets of marginal rates, you can see that the Trump rates are very regressive favoring the rich (the 1%) and the fair rates are very progressive favoring the less well off.

If you look at the range starting at $626,350, you will see the first occurrence of the top marginal rate, 37%. The the current range stays flat from that dollar amount on up without any limit.

This is the key feature of the Trump tax cuts along with the destruction of the alternative minimum tax. In fact in 2022, the average total tax rate was 27% for anyone filing taxes with income covered by the 37% marginal tax rate.

Federal Deficit for 2022

Since 2022 is the most recent year that the IRS has published data tables, I am focusing on the federal budget deficit for 2022. The deficit is very straight forward. The government spent $6.3 trillion and took in only $4.9 trillion, a $1.4 trillion short fall. See the image below.

Unfortunately, the FY-2024 deficit was worse, $6.8 trillion vs. $4.9 trillion, a $1.9 trillion shortfall.

The "not serious" peolple call for cutting spending to close the deficit. However, you can only trim a spending budget so much. "Serious" people go out and get a second job to cover their basic expenses. For the federal government a second job comes down to raising taxes and not on poor people but on very rich people. With simple arithmetic, this means the federal government needs to raise an extra $2.0 trillion every year.

Note:
The corporate income tax rate is currently 21% and it needs to be raised back to at least 30%.
I don't think taxing corporate profits is a good way to raise revenue
but until we get a wealth tax, we don't have an alternative to the corporate tax system.
Note:
The income limit on FICA taxes also has to be eliminated.

The "1%" War on Taxes

Since 1960, the "1%" has waged an intense and successful war on the fairness of the federal tax code.

• The top marginal rate was 91% in 1960.
• The top marginal rate was 70% in 1980.
• The top marginal rate was 39.6% in 2000
• The top marginal rate is now 37%.

Under Trump, people with taxable incomes below $10,000 pay a 10% marginal tax rate. While people with taxable income over $500,000 pay only a 37% marginal tax rate. You can see why rich people love Trump.

Why any poor person voted for Trump is insane.

In 2022,

• a person earning $40,000 paid 10.2% in federal income tax.
• a person earning $75,000,000 paid 11.95% in fedral income tax.
• a person earning $150,000 paid 13.92% in federal income tax.
• a person earning $20,000,000 paid only 26.79% in fedral income tax.

The federal income tax, obviously, is based on income earned during the year. It is not a tax on net worth.
As of 2024 the top 1% in the US had a net worth of $49.2 trillion, while the bottom 50% had a net worth of $4.0 trillion.
This wealth disparaty does not enter into the income tax calculation.

The 1% do not want a progressive income tax system but the 99% needs to demand that the major part of the burden of financing the government be born by the citizens who most benefit from the success of the country.

The objective of the progressive marginal tax rates is to shift the 55%/45% distribution of the tax burden to a 33%/67% distribution with the 1% carrying the 75% share.

Why should the 1% pay the 67%? Because they are insanely wealthy and without the protection of the 99%, their wealth would be at risk.

Taxes in 2022

In 2022, the IRS collected $2.1 trillion dollars in personal income tax.

Of that amount the bottom 98.59% paid $1.155 trillion and the top 1.5% paid $0.945 trillion.
The progressive tax rates would have raised about $4.0 trillion and given the 91% a lower tax bill

In order to close the federal budget deficit, the federal government needs to collect at least $4 trillion in personal income tax as well as a siginificant increase in corporate income tax and lifting the income cutoff of Social Security taxes.

A proposed progressive marginal tax rates will, if applied to all taxable income ($11.404 trillion), generate approxmately $3.0 trillon return with close to $2.0trillon coming from the wealthest 1.5% of the filers and $1.0 trillion from the rest.

Marginal Tax Rates for 2025

Start	End	Current Marginal Rate	Proposed Marginal Rate	% of Total AGI(2022)	Taxes Paid in 2022 with Trump Rates (biilions)	Estmated Taxes Paid in 2022 with Altenative Rates (billions)	Avg. % of Taxable Income Paid with Proposed Marginal Rates
$0	$11,925	10%	3%	.5%	$0.2	$.02	2%
$11,925	$48,475	12%	8%	12.4%	$63.7	$32.0	5%
$48,475	$103,350	22%	14%	18.8%	$213.2	$135.7	7.2%
$103,350	$197,300	24%	20%	24.0%	$397.7	$331.4	11.6%
$197,300	$250,525	32%	32%	19.5%	$143.1	$143.4	19%
Break Point
$250,525	$626,350	35%	48%	(part of 19.5%)	$334.7	$382.4	22%
$626,350	$1M	37%	50%	7.6%	$254.3	$343.2	34%
$1M	$1.5M	37%	69%	2.9%	$110.8	$206.7	51%
$1.5M	$2M	37%	80%	1.7%	$67.3	$145.5	62%
$2M	$5M	37%	85%	4.2%	$166.0	$381.4	68%
$5M	$10M	37%	87%	2.4%	$96.5	$226.9	69%
$10M	and up	37%	96%	7.1%	$289.1	$658.9	70%
Total					$2,098.9	$2,998.5

Federal Income Taxes for 2022

AGI Range	Number of tax returns for range	% of total range	Total AGI for the range	% of total AGI	Taxes Paid	% of taxes to AGI
All	161M	100.0%	$14.834T	100%	$2.099T	14.15%
Under $50K	87M	52.0%	$1.909T	12.9%	$63.795B	3.34%
$50k to $100K	39M	24.2%	$2.782T	18.8%	$213.183B	7.66%
$100K to $200K	26M	16.0%	$3.567T	24.0%	$397.758B	11.15%
$200k to $500k	10M	6.2%	$2.891T	19.5%	$478.105B	16.54%
$500k to $1M	1.7M	1.0%	$1.124T	7.6%	$254.285B	22.62%
$1M to $1.5M	0.4M	0.2%	$0.435T	2.9%	$110.820B	25.47%
$1.5M to $2M	0.2M	0.1%	$0.255T	1.7%	$67.287B	26.44%
$2M to $5M	0.2M	0.1%	$0.621T	4.2%	$166.027B	26.73%
$5M to $10M	0.1M	0.033%	$0.363T	2.4%	$96.476B	26.59%
$10M and up	0.03M	0.021%	$1.052T	7.1%	$281.097B	23.88%

Social Security - Medicare - Fair Income Tax - Federal Debt

The Federal Deficit

• 1996 - $5.225 trillion
• 2016 - $19.573 trillion
• 2020 - $26.945 trillion
• 2024 - $35.464 trillion

As of January 2025, the US federal debt is $36.218 trillion. The debt is created by the US government spending more than its revenues and having to borrow to cover the short fall. This can be remedy by spending less, collecting more revenues or a combination of both.

This debt is not caused by Social Security or Medicare benefits but actually is caused by an unfair tax system. The Trump tax cuts started in 2018.

Social Security is a pension/annuity system funded by US workers.

The figures below are from the Social Security Trustees Report for 2023.

In 2023 workers paid $1.112 trillion dollars via payroll deductions into the system.

This is 12.4% of the wages up to $160,200 of every worker in the country in 2023. This does not include Medicare taxes that American workers pay and this is also separate from the federal income taxes that workers paid in 2023.

During 2023, Social Security paid out $1,232 trillion in benefits to retirees and disabled Americans and paid $7 billion for its own admin expenses.

The Social Security Trust Fund started 2023 at $2.830 trillion and ended the year at $2.788 trillion. That is a loss of $41 billion.

The system earned $67 billion in interest (2.3%, $67/$2,829) from the US treasury bonds that it is forced to buy with any surplus assets.

This requirement is counter to any prudent investment strategy for a pension fund. A diversified strategy could easily create a $75 billion return on interest and dividends, and $140 billion in increased asset value ($2.852 trillion times 5%). That is $215 billion each year rather than $67 billion. Just think of all the wasted years in the past. Of course, the federal government would be paying higher a interest rate on its debt.

The Social Security system would be greatly strengthened by applying the 12.4% tax to incomes above $500,000 and raising the federal minimum wage for all workers.

In plain English, the Social Security system has been subsidizing the expenses of the federal government. If the Social Security Trust Fund had been allowed to follow a diversified stock/bond policy, the system would self-sustaining into the foreseeable future.

In addition, the Social Security system is not part of the current federal debt. In fact, it owns $2.8 trillion of the $36 trillion federal debt.

Social Security Trust Fund Recap for 2023

• $2.830 trillion Open Bal - 2023
• $1.233 trillion Wage Taxes
• $0.067 trillion Interest Earned
• -$1.379 trillion Benefits Paid
• -$0.007 trillion Admin Expenses
• $2.788 trillion Close Bal - 2023

Medicare Benefits for Retirees and Disabled Americans

The figures below are from the 2023 annual report from the trustees of the Medicare Trust Fund.

In 2023, American workers paid $367.2 billion in Medicare taxes (2.9%) on all wages. This is separate from federal income taxes and Social Security taxes.

The Medicare Part A trust fund increased in value during 2023. Benefits paid out, however, were $37.4 billion more than payroll taxes collected. Miscellaneous revenue items created the $12.2 billion increase in the fund.

In the future, Medicare Part A may become a major cost item in the federal budget but as of now it is not a cost item.

Medicare Part B and Part D do require federal contributions which are components of the federal budget:

• Part B - $342.1 billion in 2023
• Part D - $$93.7 billion in 2023

If the economy is growing, it helps with Medicare costs and if the economy is not doing well, it is negative for Medicare costs.

Part A Benefits

Medicare Trust Fund Recap for 2023

Part A Benefits

• $196.6 billion Open Bal 2023
• $367.2 billion Medicare Wage Taxes
• $35.0 billion Income Taxes on OASDI benefits
• $5.7 bllion Interest Earned
• -$397.5 billion Benefits Paid
• -$5.6 billion Admin Expenses
• $208.8 billion Close Bal - 2023

Part B Benefits

• $194.2 billion Open Bal 2023
• $131.2 billion Part B Premiums (25%)
• $342.1 billion Federal Treasury (75%)
• $4.1 bllion Interest Earned
• -$497.4 billion Benefits Paid
• -$5.4 billion Admin Expenses
• $172.2 billion Close Bal - 2023

Part D Benefits

• $18.3 billion Open Bal 2023
• $18.6 billion Part D Premiums
• $93.7 billion Federal Treasury
• $15.8 billion Payments from States
• $0.2 bllion Interest Earned
• -$130.5 billion Benefits Paid
• -$0.5 billion Admin Expenses
• $15.7 billion Close Bal - 2023

Federal Income Taxes for 2022

The figures shown below come from the tax tables on the IRS web site. Calendar year 2022 is the most recent year reported by the IRS and 1996 is the oldest year.

You will see from the first table below that in 2022 the total US national Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) was $14.834 trillion. In 1996, the figure was $4.536 trillion. The 2022 amount is over triple the amount from 1996.

1. In 1996,
   • tax filers with AGI under $25,000
     • represent 53% of all filers but
     • their total AGI was 16% of the total AGI of all filers.
     • their total AGI was $671 billion
     • their average tax rate was 7.0%
     • paid $34.414 billion in income taxes
   • tax filers with AGI over $200,000
     • represent 1.3% of all filers but
     • their total AGI was only 17.8% of the total AGI of all filers
     • their total AGI was $807 billion
     • their average tax rate was 28.1%
     • paid $226.112 billion in income taxes
2. In 2022,
   • tax filers with AGI under $50,000
     • represent 52% of all filers but
     • their total AGI dropped to only 12.9% of the total AGI for all filers.
     • their total AGI was $1.744 trillion.
     • their average tax rate was 5.4%
     • paid $63.924 billion in income taxes
   • tax filers with AGI over $500,000
     • represent 1.5% of all filers but
     • their total AGI significantly increased to 25.9% of the total AGI of all filers
     • their total AGI was $3.849 trillion (450% over 1996)
     • their average tax rate was 24.6%
     • paid $945.991 billion in income taxes

If the average tax rate for the top 1.5% was 50%, the total US income tax would have increased by $976 billion in 2022. The total national income tax for 2022 would have jumped from $2.099 trillion to $3.075 trillion.

Federal Income Taxes for 2022

AGI Range	Number of tax returns for range	% of total range	Total AGI for the range	% of total AGI	Taxes Paid	% of taxes to AGI
All	161M	(100.0%)	$14.834T	100%	$2.099T	15.27%
Under $50K	84M	(52.0%)	$1.744T	12.9%	$63.924B	5.39%
$50k to $100K	39M	(24.2%)	$2.782T	18.8%	$213.183B	8.25%
$100K to $200K	26M	(16.0%)	$3.567T	24.0%	$397.758B	11.28%
$200k to $500k	10M	(6.2%)	$2.891T	19.5%	$478.105B	16.58%
$500k and up	2.5M	(1.5%)	$3.849T	25.9%	$945.991B	24.60%

Details of the Top 1.5%

AGI Range	Number of tax returns for range	% of total range	Total AGI for the range	% of total AGI	Taxes Paid	% of taxes to AGI	Fairer Tax Rate	Fairer Tax Amount
$500 to $1M	1.7M	(1.0%)	$1.124T	7.4%	$254.285B	22.65%	25%	$257.206B
$1M to $1.5M	360K	(0.2%)	$0.435T	2.9%	$110.820B	25.50%	35%	$139.477B
$1.5M to $2M	148K	(0.1%)	$0.254T	1.7%	$67.287B	26.47%	45%	$104.551B
$2M to $5M	208K	(0.1%)	$0.621T	4.2%	$166.027B	26.76%	61%	$345.158B
$5M to $10M	52K	(0.003%)	$0.362T	2.4%	$96.476B	26.62%	75%	$250.306B
$10M and up	35K	(0.002%)	$1.052T	7.1%	$251.097B	23.90%	86%	$806.157B
"1%" Total					$945.991B	24.80%	49.49%	$1,902.866B