Teachers and firefighters are paying more than billionaires, Buttigieg claims

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg argued that the U.S. tax system is tilted so heavily toward wealth that everyday public servants can end up paying a larger share of their income than some of the richest Americans — and he used teachers and firefighters as the clearest example.

“Right now, we have a tax code that forces firefighters and teachers to pay a higher share of their income than many billionaires and major corporations,” Buttigieg wrote in a post on X. He added that the system should change “because our economy requires it, and because it is simply the right thing to do.”

Buttigieg’s claim fits into a long-running Democratic argument: that the tax code treats money made from wealth differently than money made from work. Wages are taxed as regular income and also face payroll taxes, while much of the wealth accumulated by the ultra-rich is tied to investments that are taxed at lower rates when gains are realized — and not taxed at all while gains remain unrealized. The Tax Policy Center has described how differences in the way high earners make money can mean the tax share paid by the very highest-income households is sometimes lower than for middle-class households.

There’s also evidence that capital gains are highly concentrated at the top of the income ladder, which affects how much the very wealthy pay relative to their overall economic gains. An IRS research paper found a large share of capital gains flows to top earners and noted that low realization levels can drive down effective tax rates on capital gains.

Supporters of Buttigieg’s point often cite analyses like ProPublica’s reporting on IRS data showing that some billionaires can report relatively low taxable income compared with the growth of their overall wealth. ProPublica calculated what it called a “true tax rate” by comparing wealth growth to taxes paid for a small group of the richest Americans, producing a much lower rate than what most wage earners face on their paychecks.

But how you measure “who pays more” matters — and the claim is politically contested. Some economists and fact-checkers argue comparisons can shift depending on whether you focus on taxable income, unrealized gains, or how you assign the burden of corporate taxes. A MarketWatch item summarizing fact-checks of similar “billionaires pay a lower rate than most Americans” claims noted that some low percentages come from unconventional methods that include unrealized income, while more traditional measures can show higher effective rates for the richest taxpayers.

Buttigieg did not cite a specific study in his post. His framing, however, lands squarely in the 2026 political fight over taxes, inequality and who benefits most from the current system — a debate likely to intensify as candidates and party leaders make the case that the code should reward work more than wealth.