https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-...

The top 1% of earners pay roughly 30% of all income tax. The top 10% pay roughly 50% of all income tax. Meanwhile, the bottom 50% pay roughly 10% of income tax.

That leaves to 50-90th percentile, who you might call "middle class" (although it's debatable whether someone in the 80-90 range is truly middle class) who pay approximately 30% of all income tax. So the whole middle class only pays as much tax in total as the 90-99 range, although their total of pre-tax income is double.

[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/most-millionaires-dont-think...

"the poorest fifth of people paid 22.9% on indirect taxes such as Value Added Tax (VAT) compared with 9.1% for the richest fifth" [0].

"As it stands, there is set to be both an Income Tax rise and Income Tax cut in 2024-25, and a further tax rise in 2025-26, with a net transfer from lower- to higher-income individuals" [1].

To return to parent comment's point, trickle-down economics have demonstrably failed. Taxes are avoided by the rich while punishing the poor - surely absolutely not what should be happening.

[0] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personal...

[1] https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/happy-new-...

But the examples we do have include USA in the 1950s (top tax bracket 91%) and Sweden in the 1970s (top tax bracket 87%). Those are some of the most successful societies ever, especially in comparison to their peers at the time. Even the extreme right in these countries sees those eras as national high points.

I don't think there's evidence that taxation on its own creates stratified societies of super-rich and super-poor. For example, the problems of Brazil are largely unrelated to the tax rate.