The top 5% are the only ones that actually have enough income to pay tax on! Most of us never have to itemize our deductions because the basic deduction allowed is more than we could ever come up with by itemizing deductions. It's just how the system is set up. If you don't think the wealthy tell any lies on their income tax returns then we live in different worlds. Maybe we should all try to be like our legislators, so we would feel better?