Policymakers and candidates for office have reacted to rising inequality and near-stagnant wages in recent decades by promising to either cut or hold the line on federal taxes for “middle-class” families (and they tend to define “middle-class” awfully liberally, often lumping in those with incomes higher than 98 percent of American households). However, the rise in inequality and the near-stagnation of hourly wages for most American workers has not been driven by rising federal taxes. In fact, federal tax rates have steadily fallen for the middle 60 percent of American households, as shown in the figure below.

Note that the figure includes all federal taxes—the income tax rate faced by these households, meanwhile, is much, much lower. In 2011, for example, the total federal tax rate for the lower-middle fifth of households was 7.9 percent, but the income tax rate was actually negative; the total federal tax rate for the middle-fifth of households in 2011 was 12.3 percent, while their income tax rate averaged just 2.4 percent.

It is true that state and local taxes remain quite regressive relative to federal taxes and that the total tax bill of middle-income families is higher when you include this state and local taxation. But federal policymakers and candidates for federal office should present people with the facts: federal taxes have been steadily lowered for the middle 60 percent in recent decades, and this hasn’t stemmed the rise in inequality or the near-stagnation of hourly pay. As EPI President Lawrence Mishel has noted, “The problem isn’t what the federal government has taken out of paychecks, it’s what employers haven’t put in.” In short, we need to focus on lots of policies besides federal taxes on middle-income families if we’re looking for ways to boost hourly pay for most.