47% of US households pay no federal income tax at all

[mawilson 2,133]

oh they will soon, count on it. obama isn't done w/ his shinny new credit card yet, so we'll all be paying through the nose soon.

He seems to think that he can pay for everything by taxing those making $200k and more.

Of course, the real money is in the tax cuts to deadbeats and the middle class, including

"The Making Work Pay Tax Credit" that Danno mentioned earlier which works out to about

$43 billion in tax cuts a year and $22 billion in checks to people who don't pay income tax.

[scandal 951]

What the OP article does not mention is that there are many taxes paid above and beyond federal income tax.

Anyone employed or self-employed pays Social Security and Medicare taxes.

Depending upon what state you live in, you quite probably have a state income tax burden even if you don't have a federal income tax burden.

You also quite probably pay property tax on your dwelling, local/county income taxes, and a variety of consumption and sales taxes.

For those at the low end of the income scale, these other various taxes take a proportionately bigger bite out of their gross income than for those at higher incomes. Hence the federal income tax breaks don't mean quite as much as one might think.

One idle thought: I just wonder how many of those outraged tea partyers who love waving around signs about how sick and tired they are of being taxed to death by wasteful big government, are part of this 47% who are paying no federal income tax?

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Anyone employed or self-employed pays Social Security and Medicare taxes.

Depending upon what state you live in, you quite probably have a state income tax burden even if you don't have a federal income tax burden.

You also quite probably pay property tax on your dwelling, local/county income taxes, and a variety of consumption and sales taxes.

That's "Social Insurance" and the benefits are not means tested. Now, if you want to call those "taxes" (they already do for the self-employed), then let's start means testing Federal entitlements across the board, including "guaranteed" student loans, which just became a Federally administered education benefit (in case you weren't paying attention) and a host of other programs, for rich, poor, and fictitious entities alike.

Edited April 7, 2010 by ##########

[one...two...tree 2,762]

One idle thought: I just wonder how many of those outraged tea partyers who love waving around signs about how sick and tired they are of being taxed to death by wasteful big government, are part of this 47% who are paying no federal income tax?

[Pooky 3,348]

One idle thought: I just wonder how many of those outraged tea partyers who love waving around signs about how sick and tired they are of being taxed to death by wasteful big government, are part of this 47% who are paying no federal income tax?

Why not, instead of making insinuations, do some legwork and find out?

But then I guess you already know the answer and just want to throw in a

or

[justashooter 430]

Only thing that shows is that more Dems voted than Repubs...

somebody needs glasses. and a job.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

What the OP article does not mention is that there are many taxes paid above and beyond federal income tax.

It's not mentioned in the excerpt I posted but it certainly is mentioned in the original article.

The vast majority of people who escape federal income taxes still pay other taxes, including federal payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare, and excise taxes on gasoline, aviation, alcohol and cigarettes. Many also pay state or local taxes on sales, income and property.

That helps explain the country's aversion to taxes, said Clint Stretch, a tax policy expert Deloitte Tax. He said many people simply look at the difference between their gross pay and their take-home pay and blame the government for the disparity.

"It's not uncommon for people to think that their Social Security taxes, their 401(k) contributions, their share of employer health premiums, all of that stuff in their mind gets lumped into income taxes," Stretch said.

[scandal 951]

"It's not uncommon for people to think that their ... 401(k) contributions, ... gets lumped into income taxes[/i]

That's pretty fuckn pathetic. People who consider their own actual money, socked away in the most efficient savings vehicle we've been allowed, to be a "tax". Wow. Stupid people abound.

[alienlovechild 75]

I suppose that might be a living wage in Bumblefuсk, Arkansas.

$50K/year for a family of four is below median income for all states but if you live in NJ, Connecticut or Maryland, you're not living in a typical state anyway and I'm sure prices and taxes are higher because people have the bucks to pay.

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/liheap/guidance/SMI75FY09.pdf

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/liheap/guidance/SMI75FY09.pdf

Great link, thanks for sharing!

[scandal 951]

Why not, instead of making insinuations, do some legwork and find out?

But then I guess you already know the answer and just want to throw in a

or

That's easy-peasy. Start with a current Gallup result of demographic breakdown of the Tea Party.

We see that 19% earn < $30K, 26% earn $30-$49K. So 45% earn less than $50,000.

Based upon the original article in this thread, we already saw that a family of 4 could pay no tax on an income of $50,000.

So, how many of the tea partyers earning below $50,000 are families of 4 or more? 10%? 20%? I don't know. Since their demographics seem to follow national patterns, you would think it's at least 20%, probably more.

So we can say with some certainty that the 19% who earn < $30K are pretty much all paying no federal income tax.

And of the 26% earning $30-$49K, at least 20% (.2 * 26% = 5%) have large enough families to pay no tax.

So that's conservatively 19+5 = 24% --- one quarter --- of tea partyers who are screaming about our out of control taxation, yet aren't actually paying any.

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

[one...two...tree 2,762]

[scandal 951]

OMG! It's Rogue and Scandal in bed together. :o Were Spooky's awful rumors about us true??????