November 19, 2002 Tax and Income Shares at the Top Download this chart. The pre-tax income of the top 1 percent of tax filers has risen sharply in the last decade. So, too, has their share of income taxes paid. More notably, income has grown so much faster than taxes that the top 1 percent’s share of after-tax income has also risen sharply. While the top 1 percent of tax filers paid 25 percent of all federal individual income taxes in 1990, they paid 37 percent in 2000. Their share of pre-tax income (adjusted gross income) rose from 14 percent in 1990 to nearly 21 percent in 2000. Their after-tax income share increased from 12 percent to almost 18 percent over the same period, with nearly all of that growth occurring since the mid-1990s. Far from becoming worse off as their share of income taxes paid has risen, the top 1 percent have done very well in terms of the more meaningful measure, after-tax income.