First, the working poor do pay taxes. Their social security taxes are just lumped into the general fund. But that aside, there is a certain withholding that everyone pays even if they get it back at the end. Fact is, if you make $12,000 a year you pay more taxes that GE, Citi and Bank of America combined because they pay none, nada, not a red cent.
The point is that the ultra rich 2% make so much money that of course their total paid in taxes are higher. That is the story and the 2% compared to the lower 50% is a red herring. If I have 50 households who pay $.20 in tax and the next 48 households (middle income) pay $5.00 and I have 2 households that pay $375 each then the bottom 50% pays a total of roughly 2% of the taxes and the top 2% pay 37.50%. AND NOT 75% as you might think. It is a clever number reporting trick. What is missing is the term "EACH". as in EACH person in the lower 50% contributes >2% or pays in at that rate. Each of the 99% persons pays 37.5% and each of the top or 100% persons pays 37.5%.
What is the kicker here is that the top 2% don't make 371/2 times the lower wage earners. They make 300+ times the lower wage earners on average but only pay 18.75 times what they do in taxes.
Clear?