Supporters of the 1993 tax hike said that the rich would pay more. But in 1994 the top 1 percent of income earners in the United States -- those with an income above $195,981 -- paid a slightly smaller share of federal income taxes than they did in 1993, according to an analysis of preliminary data from the Internal Revenue Service (see figure).

The Tax Foundation explains that 1994 was the first year in which individuals could fully respond to the 1993 retroactive increase in the top marginal income tax rate -- from 31 percent to 39.6 percent. Economists believe people responded by earning less or sheltering more of their income.

Still, compared to 10 years earlier, "Americans at the upper end of the income scale are continuing to bear a historically large share of the total federal individual income tax burden," says Tax Foundation economist Patrick Fleenor. Comparing 1994 figures with 1984, Fleenor found that:

• The share of all federal individual income taxes paid by the top 1 percent of income earners rose from 21.1 percent to 28.7 percent.

• The share paid by the top 5 percent -- those with adjusted gross income above $90.913 -- rose from 38.0 percent to 47.4 percent.

• The burden of the top 10 percent of earners -- with adjusted gross income above $68,737 -- rose from 50.6 percent to 59.1 percent.

• The portion paid by the top 25 percent -- with income above $42,734 -- rose from 73.5 percent to 79.5 percent.

• And the top 50 percent -- earning above $21,817 -- paid a share of individual income taxes that rose from 92.6 percent in 1984 to 95.2 percent in 1994.

However, the share of individual income taxes paid by the bottom 50 percent of income earners, those with adjusted gross income below $21,817, fell from 7.4 percent of the total in 1984 to 4.8 percent in 1994.

Source: "Latest Data Show Trend Reversal: Top 1% Not Paying Larger Share of Federal Income Taxes," Tax Features, September 1996, Tax Foundation, 1250 H Street, NW, Suite 750, Washington, DC 20005, (202) 783-7675.