The forms of taxation vary significantly with income, the important comparison is tax burden. The top income earners pay a higher percentage in income taxes but payroll and gas taxes etc effectively cap out. Net result America has a surprisingly flat tax curve that only drops for ultra high or ultra low income earners.

Critically the definitions get warped so stock appreciation for example doesn’t count unless you sell it. And when you finally do capital gains isn’t taxed as normal income. You can even give stock away without ever paying any form of income taxes on these gains.