Nearly Half of US Households Pay No Federal Tax
Posted by Jim Hoft on Wednesday, April 7, 2010, 5:54 PM
47% of US households will pay no federal taxes this year.
The AP reported:
Tax Day is a dreaded deadline for millions, but for nearly half of U.S. households it’s simply somebody else’s problem.
About 47 percent will pay no federal income taxes at all for 2009. Either their incomes were too low, or they qualified for enough credits, deductions and exemptions to eliminate their liability. That’s according to projections by the Tax Policy Center, a Washington research organization.
Most people still are required to file returns by the April 15 deadline. The penalty for skipping it is limited to the amount of taxes owed, but it’s still almost always better to file: That’s the only way to get a refund of all the income taxes withheld by employers.
In recent years, credits for low- and middle-income families have grown so much that a family of four making as much as $50,000 will owe no federal income tax for 2009, as long as there are two children younger than 17, according to a separate analysis by the consulting firm Deloitte Tax.
Tax cuts enacted in the past decade have been generous to wealthy taxpayers, too, making them a target for President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress. Less noticed were tax cuts for low- and middle-income families, which were expanded when Obama signed the massive economic recovery package last year.
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Published May 24, 2012 at 8:46 pm - 84 Comments
Tyrconnell commented:
Less noticed, nice wording. How about ignored?
ar05075 commented:
And a vast majority of them get a earned income credit for thousands of dollars. So they make ….er, I mean recieve money for NOT paying taxes.
beef_wellington commented:
The reported fact, that a sizable percentage of Americans do not pay any income tax, bodes ill for any number of reasons. The most troubling, as I see it, is that it widens the already yawning gap between haves and have-nots, cementing in the minds of the have-nots that they are entitled to live at the expense of the haves. This attitude assures them that they will stay in their pathetic station in life. What’s more, this situation demonstrates pointedly that we are not all in this together; that is, building an American future. To the contrary, these negative income schemes (where non-income tax payers are in fact income tax return filers but only to get “their share” via refundable tax credits) demonstrate that the burden of responsibility falls most heavily of the productive, for the benefit of the unproductive. And the cause: too much government.
NC Cop commented:
Perhaps if 100% of households didn’t pay taxes…..hmmmmmmmmm
IOpian commented:
This is a little misleading. Some may not pay income tax but there is no getting around paying FICA. Being self-employed it is that tax that is killing me. Even though I make 50K+ my income tax only comes to about 10%. I can’t complain about that. But FICA comes right off the gross and there is no adjustment.
Scott Wiggins commented:
A government that robs Peter to pay Paul, can always count of the support of Paul, George Bernard Shaw…Our so-called progressive income tax is but one of the doomsday clocks installed in our Republic by the useful idiots in Washington. It is merely an unconstitutional means of vote-buying and social engineering not envisioned by the founding fathers…A flat tax where everyone feels the pain, with few exceptions for the sick and elderly would have prevented the growth of the monolithic Washington necropolis that threatens the Republic. Tsk tsk…There will be no getting the progressive income tax and progressive/communists out of our lives until States learn to say no to the Feds.
Lily commented:
Dear IOpian:
You’re complaining about your FICA? At your income level, assuming you live to the average life expectancy, you’ll received far more back in SS income than you paid in. No all of us can say that.
Are you suggesting that you shouldn’t have to pay in to FICA at all? Are you a looter?
Ladue Pundit commented:
Wait until next year when the Bush Tax Cuts disappear and Obamacare taxes kick in. And the death tax will be back just in time to finish off the economy.
IOpian, my spouse is self-employed and we, like you, pay the full load of FICA and medicare. Since it’s all going in a rathole, it is very depressing.
Ladue Pundit commented:
Lily, I wouldn’t call a person who works for himself and pays the employer AND employee share of payroll taxes a looter.
Do you get healthcare from your employer? Are you taxed for it? Or is it untaxed loot?
IOpian commented:
Dearest Lily,
All I am saying is that saying people do not pay any income tax gives the impression those people pay no taxes on earnings at all. Though it is not called an income tax it is still based on the total amount of money earned.
Additionally though I pay twice what a W2 employee pays I don’t count on getting any of it back given that the system will be looted by the time I can draw on it. But that is in the future, the bills are owed now.
The premise you base your conclusion that I think I don’t have to pay it simply does not exist in what I wrote.
marmo commented:
Damn! How do I get in on this deal? Like a fool, I’ve been paying taxes all along.
Patman commented:
I humbly admit I’ve paid millions in personal taxes over the past 15 years. I built a company and work hard! We employ a lot of good American workers too.
Everyday I pray that all that money goes to buying truckloads of machine guns and loads of guided drones for our troops over seas!
Keep the faith Patriots! I haven’t given up hope.
Lily commented:
Sorry if I made an incorrect assumptions -you seemed to be complaining about the FICA.
The article was about Income Tax and the fact that about 47% of households pay NONE and yet enjoy the benefit of government services and many have their income supplimented by taxpayer dollars.
Some ‘social justice’ lovers have already floated the idea that lower income people shouldn’t have the ‘burden’ of the FICA taxes either. I thought you were one of these types.
MamaTod commented:
As someone whose husband has been unemployed and underemployed for a number of years (through layoffs and market downturns….we once owned a farm which we sold when prices kept dropping and costs rising and he also has a general contractor’s license and he’s been laid off from manufacturing jobs 3 times w/o warnings and with good reviews) and who depends on the Earned Income and Child Tax credits to catch up each year, I will tell you that I would MUCH RATHER be in a high enough income bracket to be paying some taxes than in the humiliating situation of dependence. Some commenters here are painting with a rather broad brush when they say all low income families EXPECT entitlements. We use them because we don’t have a choice, but we want the day to come when we don’t have to. I fully believe that if government would get out of the way, American ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit would cause employment to rebound and we’d have a chance. Doesn’t look like that’s going to happen anytime soon. So we’ll keep on being frugal and looking for permanent work and raising good kids and be grateful for the tax credits right now. It would be nice if I didn’t get called down for doing so.
Carbon Monoxide commented:
This is why the Republican/Tea Partier cry of “Lower Taxes!” is NOT a good, long term strategy. There are TOO many people not paying taxes already. To these people, Socialism is a net plus.
Do the math. If you add up:
1) the number of people who don’t pay taxes (and may be receiving un-earned money instead)
2) the number of people who have had or participated in an abortion
3) public school teachers and federal workers
you will have a permanent, Democrat majority.
This is their agenda, people!
You need to come up with something compelling besides lowering taxes, outlawing abortion and cutting federal and state jobs (as admirable as all this is).
Just sayin….
JKetye commented:
How about about avoiding financial ruin? As Dame Thatcher used to say, the problem with socialism is you run out of other people’s money.
At some point, the money will run out.
Jo commented:
INterpretation Obama is destroying and bankrupting the U.S.A. and giving love to Chaves, Castros, Satan, and mass killers. He even is paying for security to KSM and other 9/11 terrorists, because he cares that they get treated nice. They are a part of his larger plan of ending the U.S.A. Obama has always been secret. One can always tell about ‘evil.’ if it says one thing and does another.
Ladue Pundit commented:
I think lowering taxes in the cornerstone of freedom. The government has monopolized (crowded out of capital markets) billions of dollars, our hard-earned dollars and directed them towards endeavors which do not make our nation propserous.
Our taxes are used to buy votes from slouches who are allowed to vote our wealth into their hands.
Carbon Monoxide, everyone’s taxes will be going up. There is no way Obama can have everything he’s taking by taxing only welathy people; there aren’t enough of them.
If the engine of free enterprise were allowed to run at full throttle, without government hampering, this country would see strength and security like it hasn’t for decades.
wanumba commented:
Talk about a sure fire way to divide this country. Them that pays and them that takes.
Those who don’t pay are super motivated to make sure they stay not paying, so they will be lobbying furiously to keep that threshold above their income bracket.
But Nancy Pelosi can’t possibly be paying her fair share, she has HUGE homes and is very very very wealthy. If she was paying her share
she’d be living more modestly.
If Obama the New Party communist would drop the pretence and start purging out the folks he can’t stand like Nancy Pelosi who is the epitome of the “white” America, we’d at least have some entertainment as the rest of us are reduced to Communist Romania living … burning our furniture for heat.
Meanwhile, with half the country on a free ride, how about the middle class entrepreneurs go on strike? Across the board? AS in plumbers who mansion-dweller Joe Biden mocked for having aspirations of making a decent living. See? Like the doctor in Florida, plumbers could refuse service to anyone who voted for Obama and the Democrats. See how good Joe Biden is with a wrench and a snake.
Likewise, ALL the trades. They provide their service only to the 1/2 of the country who appreciates them, and pay.
Let the 1/2 of the country who just voted to wreck their businesses fix their own homes, build their own porch, install their own lights, dig their own trenches, lay their own pipes, put in that shower stall, rip out the drywall…
The Liberals will scream and then open the flood gates of Mexicans … most of whom have not gone to any trade school and know just enough of any particular skill to get into trouble on a job that requires more than just a casual apprenticeship. All the best!
Amy Proctor commented:
Wow, we must be rich. We owe $1800 for the first time in our lives and we’ve been married for 22 years.
Jackie commented:
My dad, who is retired, pays no federal income tax. How many of the 47% are retirees on fix incomes, who had paid income taxes while they were working?
Marsh commented:
Now I know why so many people on the left aren’t won over by the lower taxes message of the right and why they support higher taxes and more government handouts and why the right opposes higher taxes and government handouts. We on the right are the ones paying for them and not receiving any of the benefits! It’s like the left is using the right as their personal piggy banks. What’s the point of working hard and doing well in school when your reward is becoming a tax slave for Democraps? It’s time for a tax revolt!
susan commented:
Jackie,
I feel so sorry for your Dad’s children and grandchildren because even though they’ll pay into FICA they’ll never, ever be able to enjoy the retirement he enjoys.
And, your Dad’s children and grandchildren might as well give up on the luxurious ideal of ‘following their dream’ since they’ll be living the rest of their lives trying to extract themselves from their American Ghetto.
Your Dad was never forced to live on the Democrat Slave Plantation however your Dad’s children and grandchildren will live as Serfs.
Serving Social Justice always brings evil to the children, ALWAYS!
Pray God protect the children from the evil sins of the wicked adults.
Jackie commented:
I’ve been working 32 years and knew back then not to depend on Social Security being there when I finally retire. Like my brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews we all put a portion of our incomes into a 401K plan or IRA accounts. It’s probably why my family are strong conservatives, we know not to depend on government. My dad grew up in a different era where there were still private pension plans and social security.
Mike commented:
Anyone interested in the original source can go here.
http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/250.html
I find it interesting that the top 1% of the income earners made 22.83% of the income but paid 40.42% of the income taxes. This was in ’07 so it’ll be interesting to see how the numbers change in this administration.
Andreas K. commented:
Even if these taxes would be paid, it wouldn’t make a difference on the long run.
A German economist finally put the cards on the table just a few days ago.
Germany’s 2010 budget is roughly 320 billion Euros. I think I’ve mentioned that a few times in the past. Of those 320 billion 80 billion Euros are new debt (which, officially, is 1.7 trillion Euros, and unofficially 6.2 trillion Euros.)
Now comes the real stunner.
150 billion Euros of this budget are flowing into the German welfare state. That’s almost 50% of the whole annual budget of Germany. Ten years ago it was about a third of the budget.
And as a result Germany won’t be able to even pay the interest on its debts this year. Paying back the debts is totally out of question. They can’t even pay the interest.
All hail the welfare state.
This is going to crash and burn and will make the “financia crisis” that we currently “suffer” look like a picknick.
J commented:
And only ONE political party is proud of that fact.
AuntieMadder commented:
Huh. The article didn’t even mention those whose “refunds” are greater than entire year’s sum of taxes deducted from their paychecks.
At 46, I’ve never been married and don’t have kids. The deductions from may paychecks have always been huge and the yearly refunds aren’t. ($750 was the largest ever; most from $300 to $400.) I wonder who Uncle Scam sends mine to and why they need my money more than I do.
Militant Conservative commented:
Patman
April 7th, 2010 | 7:48 pm | #14
Know that many of use conservatives thank you for creating the work for some of those that do not understand. As for the firearms, I have a “ton” of my own as well as more in the consumable ammo department. Enough for me and my neighbors too.
Now I understand your posts a little better.
All ya’ll’s taxes are getting ready to go up and work will be hard to come by. I am making myself indespensible to my employer by being a top performer and money earner. The liberal left is going to get a hell of a civics lesson.