As April 15 tax filing deadline creeps closer, it’s hard to miss the same message bouncing around kitchen tables and office breakrooms: many Americans think they’re paying more than their fair share. And, according to recent polling, that feeling isn’t just talk—it’s showing up across income groups, with the biggest intensity among top earners.
Misryoum newsroom reported that belief has grown in recent years, even as new tax cuts kicked in for people across the income spectrum, from seniors to tipped workers. Misryoum also newsroom reported that many Americans are seeing bigger refunds in 2026, with the typical refund up about 11% compared with a year earlier, based on IRS data. Those larger refunds are tied to new tax breaks under the “big, beautiful bill” enacted in 2025. Still, despite the shinier refund checks, complaints about taxes have remained pretty loud.
Poll numbers show just how steep the skepticism can be. About 68% of top earners—defined by Pew as households with total annual income of more than $155,600—say they pay too much in taxes, the highest share of any income bracket. Only about one-third of those polled say their tax burden is appropriate. The broad frustration also extends beyond the top slice of the economy: in 2026, about 60% of adults said their taxes are too high, up from about 51% in 2019, according to Misryoum newsroom reporting. Another poll Misryoum editorial desk noted found a similar figure—59% of adults—saying they pay too much.
Some experts point to the mismatch between tax policy headlines and day-to-day budgets. Misryoum analysis indicates inflation—still elevated since the pandemic—has left many households feeling stretched, and paying taxes on top of higher costs for groceries, gas, health care and housing can make every paycheck deduction sting a little more. On a real morning last week, the faint smell of burnt toast mixed with that quiet nervousness you get before you open the paperwork—like, okay, where exactly did the money go again?
Mark Steber, chief tax officer at Jackson Hewitt Tax Services, told Misryoum newsroom that “We know that many hardworking Americans are feeling financial pressure,” adding that “in my opinion, anytime money comes out of someone’s pocket, even with the noble and necessary responsibility of paying taxes—either through paycheck withholdings or during tax filing time—it is just hard.” That reaction is understandable, even if the tax system itself is built to be progressive. In other words, lower-income Americans generally pay a smaller share of their income in federal taxes than higher-income workers.
Misryoum editorial team stated that the tax code’s complexity may be a big part of the story here. Many Americans, Steber said, lack a clear understanding of how taxes work—an issue backed up by a 2024 survey from the Tax Foundation finding that more than half of taxpayers lacked basic tax literacy, including how tax brackets function. IRS data shows top-earning households pay the bulk of federal income taxes, while many low-income households end up
owing little or nothing in income taxes, even though they still encounter payroll, sales, state and other taxes. “Income taxes aren’t simple, but complexity is the price tag for fairness,” Steber said, arguing that when people compare what they pay to what they feel they’re getting back, it can reinforce the perception that they’re paying more than their fair share. And the thing is, even with a bigger refund sometimes… people still feel like the
system is taking, not giving. Maybe that’s the part that sticks.
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