Bill Maher Finally Said What Every Taxpayer Already Knew About Bernie Sanders

May 13, 2026 Cat2, The Media
Yeexin Richelle via shutterstock

Bill Maher just admitted he hands nearly 60% of everything he earns to the government.

Now Bernie Sanders wants to call that "not enough."

What Maher said on Real Time last month should end this debate – but nobody has asked Sanders the one number that would expose his entire argument as a fraud.

The Number Bernie Sanders Will Never Say Out Loud

Nobody on the left can tell you what "fair share" actually means in real dollars.

Not 40%. Not 50%. Not 60%.

Ask Bernie Sanders – the man who introduced the "Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act" in March – what the number is, and he changes the subject every single time.

That is not an accident.

"Fair share" is a phrase designed to stay permanently out of reach.

Name any percentage, and it will not be enough.

The goalposts move the moment you get close.

The political grievance only works if it can never be satisfied – which is why Sanders has never, in 40 years in Washington, DC told anyone what the actual number is.

Here is the math he refuses to show his audiences.

According to IRS data analyzed by the Tax Foundation, the top 1% of earners – those making above $675,602 – paid 38.4% of all federal income taxes in 2023.

The top 10% paid 71% of the total.

The bottom 50% of Americans paid 3.3%.

Nearly 49 million tax returns filed in 2023 reported zero income tax liability whatsoever.

Sanders is demanding more from the people already carrying almost the entire load – and he will not say what "enough" looks like.

The Six-Layer Tax Bite Sanders Pretends Does Not Exist

Federal income tax is the opening act, not the whole show.

Start with the federal rate – top earners face a marginal rate of 37% before surtaxes even kick in.

Add state income tax. California and New York stack another 10% to 14% on top of that federal number, pushing the combined rate into territory that rivals European social democracies.

Now add property taxes.

In New Jersey and Texas, owners of higher-value homes write annual checks between $10,000 and $30,000.

That is money you pay just to keep what you already own.

Then comes sales tax. Tennessee and Washington approach a combined rate of 10% at the register.

That is after-tax money being taxed all over again.

Invest what survives all of that?

Federal capital gains tax plus the Net Investment Income Tax pushes the rate past 23.8% before the state takes another slice – a second tax on the same dollar you already paid taxes on when you earned it.

Finally, try to pass it to your children.

The estate tax takes yet another bite out of wealth that has already run the full gauntlet.

Bill Maher – a liberal – did the full accounting on himself and arrived at nearly 60% of his total earnings handed to the government.

His conclusion: the rich already pay a staggering amount, and Bernie Sanders is lying to his audiences about it.

The Question That Ends Every "Fair Share" Argument

The 1980s told us exactly what happens when you treat productive people as an endless revenue source.

The top marginal rate stood at 70% in 1981.

High earners restructured income, hired accountants, and used every available shelter – and the actual average rate they paid barely moved.

It was 30.5% before Reagan cut rates, and 27.9% after.

Higher statutory rates did not produce higher revenue.

The prediction that taxing the rich harder would flood the treasury with cash simply did not materialize.

Sanders just proposed a 5% annual wealth tax on the 938 billionaires in America.

His own economists project it raises $4.4 trillion over ten years.

The federal government spent $7 trillion in fiscal year 2025 alone.

The math does not close – not even close.

Maher asked the obvious question on national television: "How can it be that the federal government alone took in over $5 trillion in taxes last year and we still need that? … Are we really this incompetent and corrupt?"

The IRS collected a record $5.235 trillion in receipts in fiscal year 2025.

Washington, DC spent $7.01 trillion.

The deficit was $1.775 trillion.

That is not a revenue problem. That is a spending problem.

When you keep raising the burden on the people who create jobs, fund startups, and build the businesses that employ everyone else, you do not just take their money.

You change what they do with it. They restructure. They relocate.

They stop taking risks.

Maher made it plain: you raise billionaires' taxes, they leave the state. Or they leave the country.

The actual question is not whether the rich pay enough.

The actual question is why Pelosi, Schumer, and Biden spent $7 trillion in a single year, left a $1.8 trillion hole, and Sanders wants to hand Washington more money to do it again.

Sources:

  • National Taxpayers Union Foundation, "Who Pays Income Taxes?" April 2026.
  • Tax Foundation, "Who Pays Federal Income Taxes? Tax Year 2023," May 2026.
  • Fox Business, "Bill Maher says nearly 60% of his income goes to taxes," April 2026.
  • Sen. Bernie Sanders, "Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act," March 2026.
  • AIER, "Do the Rich Pay Their Fair Share of Taxes?" May 2025.
  • USAFacts, "Who pays the most income tax?" 2024.