claim: the "mega-rich" pay about 15 percent in taxes, while the middle class "fall into the 15 percent and 25 percent income tax brackets, and then are hit with heavy payroll taxes to boot."
author: warren buffett
evidence_1: aug 14, 2011 ... the mega-rich pay income taxes at a rate of 15 percent on most of their earnings  but pay practically nothing in payroll taxes. it's a different story for the middle  class: typically, they fall into the 15 percent and 25 percent income tax brackets,  and then are hit with heavy payroll taxes to boot. back in the 1980s ...
evidence_2: aug 24, 2015 ... “the mega-rich pay income taxes at a rate of 15 percent on most of their earnings  but pay practically nothing in payroll taxes. it's a different story for the middle  class: typically, they fall into the 15 percent and 25 percent income tax brackets,  and then are hit with heavy payroll taxes to boot,” says warren ...
evidence_3: oct 12, 2017 ... the mega-rich pay income taxes at a rate of 15 percent on most of their earnings  but pay practically nothing in payroll taxes. it's a different story for the middle  class: typically, they fall into the 15 percent and 25 percent income tax brackets,  and then are hit with heavy payroll taxes to boot.” the questionable ...
evidence_4: aug 15, 2011 ... he noted 80 percent of government revenue came from personal income and  payroll taxes, adding the “mega-rich pay income taxes at a rate of 15 percent ...  story for the middle class: typically, they fall into the 15 percent and 25 percent  income tax brackets, and then are hit with heavy payroll taxes to boot.
evidence_5: aug 17, 2011 ... the mega-rich pay income taxes at a rate of 15 percent on most of their earnings  but pay practically nothing in payroll taxes. it's a different story for the middle  class: typically, they fall into the 15 percent and 25 percent income tax brackets,  and then are hit with heavy payroll taxes to boot. back in the 1980s ...