About Those 47 Percent Who Pay “No Taxes” ... It’s A Myth ...

[Emit]

Just a timely reminder ...

About Those 47 Percent Who Pay “No Taxes.”

Howard Gleckman | Posted on April 15, 2010, 8:44 pm

Last June, my colleague Bob Williams posted a TaxVox article that reported 47 percent of American households paid no federal income tax in 2009. Bob was exactly right, but rarely has a bit of data been so misunderstood, or so misused.

Let me explain—repeat actually—what this means: About half of taxpayers paid no federal income tax last year. It does not mean they paid no tax at all. Many shelled out Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes. In fact, only 14 percent of Americans didn’t pay either income or payroll taxes. Some paid property taxes and, it is fair to say, just about all of them paid sales taxes of one kind or another. So to say they pay no taxes is flat wrong.

However, this class warfare-like rhetoric plays to a perception that the income tax is a chump tax: Only hard-working folks like us pay it. The welfare queens don’t. The super-rich don’t. It is a powerful emotional argument. It is also flat wrong.

So who are these folks who pay no federal income taxes? Mostly, they are people who don’t make very much money. Many are elderly: Think a widow living only on Social Security benefits. Others are parents earning less than $20,000. Only about 5 percent are non-elderly households making more than $20,000.

~snip~

http://taxvox.taxpolicycenter.org/2010/04/15/about-those-47-percent-who-pay-%E2%80%9Cno-taxes-%E2%80%9D/

More:

It’s A Myth That 47% Of Americans Pay No Taxes, In Truth 86% Pay Taxes

The truth is that the talking point that half of all Americans pay no taxes is a misrepresentation. Here is the full quote from the Tax Policy Center,

The fraction of tax units paying no income tax varies widely by filing status and type of unit. About 47 percent of single filers will owe no tax, compared with 38 percent of joint filers and 72 percent of heads of household. More than half of elderly tax units and tax units with children will pay no income tax this year.

The 47% statistic is not all Americans pay no taxes, but single filers who will pay no federal income taxes. According to the Center On Budget and Policy Priorities the real reason why 47%-51% of Americans paid no federal income taxes in 2009 is,

The 51 percent figure is an anomaly that reflects the unique circumstances of 2009, when the recession greatly swelled the number of Americans with low incomes and when temporary tax cuts created by the 2009 Recovery Act — including the “Making Work Pay” tax credit and an exclusion from tax of the first $2,400 in unemployment benefits — were in effect. Together, these developments removed millions of Americans from the federal income tax rolls. Both of these temporary tax measures have since expired.

~snip~

The Tax Policy Center has tried to correct Fox News and the right wing media’s misuse of their research. In April 2010, Howard Glickman of the TPC wrote,

Let me explain—repeat actually—what this means: About half of taxpayers paid no federal income tax last year. It does not mean they paid no tax at all. Many shelled out Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes. In fact, only 14 percent of Americans didn’t pay either income or payroll taxes. Some paid property taxes and, it is fair to say, just about all of them paid sales taxes of one kind or another. So to say they pay no taxes is flat wrong.

However, this class warfare-like rhetoric plays to a perception that the income tax is a chump tax: Only hard-working folks like us pay it. The welfare queens don’t. The super-rich don’t. It is a powerful emotional argument. It is also flat wrong.

The actual number of Americans who don’t pay any taxes isn’t half, but 14%. This group of non-taxpayers of any kind is largely composed of the elderly and disabled. The people who don’t pay taxes do so because they can’t work.

~snip~

http://www.politicususa.com/half-americans-taxes.html

[uppityperson]

1. k&r.

[tk2kewl]

2. k&r

[KT2000]

3. other federal taxes include

phone and cigarette/tobacco

Is there a federal tax on liquor?

[Emit]

4. I think there is a federal excise tax on liquor n/t

[bhikkhu]

5. And even if the progressive federal tax gives you a break -

you're still paying state tax, sales tax, property tax, gas tax, payroll tax, social security tax, and probably a bunch more that I'm forgetting. I've read that the average tax burden even of the poor is about 40%, and that stays steady up to about 250k of income - where it begins to drop off steeply.

As I've said before - the real freeloaders are at the top, not on the bottom.

[meow2u3]

6. Only Federal income, capital gains, and corporate taxes count as taxes in the twisted minds of

...the Rethuglicans.

Payroll taxes, Federal excise taxes (including gasoline taxes), sales taxes, property taxes, and other state and local taxes don't count in the perverted minds of the American Taliban.

[burrowowl]

7. This video from a TAX EVADER!

Unfucking believable!

[Emit]

13. Yes and a corporate welfare king to boot!

as I pointed out in another post earlier, he should be hammered on releasing those tax returns now

[cbdo2007]

8. kick

[WillyT]

9. K & R !!!

[treestar]

10. 2009 is not a good year to use either

There was the making work pay credit, and the recession.

[Emit]

12. Yes, good points

Roberton Williams in his original article attempted to explain some of that:

During the 2008 election campaign, President Obama proposed to create or expand a variety of refundable tax credits, most notably his Making Work Pay credit. Refundability was key for Obama — that’s the only way to make credits available to people who pay little or no tax. Critics decried the proposals, asking how you can cut taxes for people who pay no tax. The Tax Policy Center (TPC) estimated that, under then current law, 38 percent of all nondependent tax units would pay no income tax in 2009.

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001289_who_pays.pdf

[Emit]

11. Listening to the pundits this morning, they still don't get it

"About 47 percent of single filers will owe no tax..."

Not 47% of Americans, as Rmoney, Fox, etc. assert.