Posted on 08/08/2011 12:45:01 PM PDT by SmithL
For some California Tea Party conservatives, it has become a favorite statistic: Nearly half of Americans - 46 percent - don't pay taxes. The number is used to back up their claim that if that many people don't pay taxes, why should the wealthiest individuals pay more?
It is accurate in a sense - 46 percent of U.S. households aren't expected to pay federal income taxes this year.
"But most of those people do pay federal taxes" of some sort, such as payroll taxes, said Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center, a center-left Washington think tank, and co-author of a widely cited report last month on who pays taxes.
Roughly half of those 76 million American households who don't pay federal income taxes are zeroed out because their income is too low, he said, while the other half - of all income levels - pay no federal income tax because of a variety of exemptions and loopholes.
"It's a much more nuanced story . . .
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Which is more than they paid into FICA.
“Nuanced” is what elitists say to try to intimidate you into thinking you don’t understand as much as they, the elite, understand about an issue.
If 46% don’t pay any federal taxes then they sure as hell can forget using any federally funded conveniences such as freeways, damn it!
I still call BS. Yes, those 46% do pay some payroll taxes and they obviously pay taxes that are rolled into products they buy.
However, EVERYONE who works pays those taxes. So, the difference is we are debating INCOME taxes. I wish the left would get that.
And if you want to compare apples to apples, who pays the largest percentage of property taxes? These support local schools, fire departments, and the infrastructure in your town.
The argument is at 46% (or so) do not pay Income taxes.
Also, I am tired of the folks who write “loopholes” as codeword for “cheat.”
I am a small business person. I own a photography business. I can assure you when I spend nearly $8,000 on a lens or camera body I take the full deduction for the accelerated depreciation on it. This allows me to get a refund on taxes that I pay into the system during the year.
It is a standard deduction. It has been around for a while. The equipment I am deducting is strictly for business use, and there has never been nor would there be a question about the appropriateness of the deduction.
But these people would suggest that I am “cheating” because I take a deduction.
People who do not understand the tax system, yet suggest that those who take the time to learn it are cheats, are simply idiots.
But, but, I’m SURE that money was spent responsibly on the kids for shoes, clothing and rent and ...
These households average 3 or more people, so the total people in America that pay no federal taxes is far above the 50% mark.
You really think there are 65 million illegals?
More in the range of 25-30 million....
fwiw-
An argument I had with an Illinois government worker-drone, lefty acquaintance of mine had me floored when I finally came to the realization that people like this can, without blinking, probably find a way to tell you that water is dry, the sky is green and the answer to two plus two is whatever you want it to be.
This particular acquaintance tried to convince me that even though Texas, among other states, does not have a state income tax, they do in fact have a state income tax, just that it's just called something else.
You simply cannot argue with this kind of liar. They will say anything, no matter how plainly untrue it is, without hesitation, and without any shame.
Let’s try a novel approach- “anyone who wishes to vote must have paid local, state and federal incomes taxes as evidenced by a tax return/receipt”.
No more of the children voting themselves the cookie jar while contributing nothing to it. What juvenile approach we use in the most important function of a citizen-only those who are vested by virtue of paying into the system should have any say about where said funds go.
Poll Tax? No. Qualification, yes.
The consitution says we have a right to vote if over 18 etc, I doubt there is a controversy over establishing condtions to further clarify WHO gets to vote. We do the same with the 2A, the 5th the 1st etc etc.
I am certain a reasonable system can be established-in the old days, only land owners were entitled to vote, then the push to get the masses (something sounding leftist-ish eh?) to swing the vote towards entitlement spending (I mean, social “reform”).
Gosh, its sounding, like, like a left wing conspiracy and all!
Let’s try a novel approach- “anyone who wishes to vote must have paid local, state and federal incomes taxes as evidenced by a tax return/receipt”.
No more of the children voting themselves the cookie jar while contributing nothing to it. What juvenile approach we use in the most important function of a citizen-only those who are vested by virtue of paying into the system should have any say about where said funds go.
Poll Tax? No. Qualification, yes.
The consitution says we have a right to vote if over 18 etc, I doubt there is a controversy over establishing condtions to further clarify WHO gets to vote. We do the same with the 2A, the 5th the 1st etc etc.
I am certain a reasonable system can be established-in the old days, only land owners were entitled to vote, then the push to get the masses (something sounding leftist-ish eh?) to swing the vote towards entitlement spending (I mean, social “reform”).
Gosh, its sounding, like, like a left wing conspiracy and all!
AMEN to what you wrote.!!!!!!!!
Here’s the deal. You blame the rich for not paying their taxes....so you raise their taxes to make everyone feel good that the rich will cover the bill. But the rich go back to Senator Snuffy and ask for more tax credits...so in twelve months...they pay the same taxes as they did before. The President is happy because he got to blame someone free of charge, and Senator Snuffy is happy because he got to write more tax code which he knows nothing about and got paid some re-election campaign money for doing it.
So the bottom line? You need a plain simple 9% flat tax that everyone pays and only ten pages of tax code (rather than 70k pages). Then we all know our position in life and in maintaining the government structure. And the government? It comes to realize that it can only spend that money, and stop borrowing to buy more than they can afford. End of the discussion.
I know folks in the same boat. Absolutely infuriating.
Oh, didn’t you hear exactly what the president said?
He’s just going to “ask those who can afford it to pay more in taxes”. It’s all voluntary, I guess.
Just read the whole article.
They left a few things out.
Not only will 46% not pay income taxes, approx. 40 %
of those will GET tax dollars via EIC as an example. Also lost is, of the 46% that will pay no income tax, they get tax dollars via Food Stamps, Section 8 vouchers ...etc.
Lefties see it all slipping away and will spin it to cloud it up.
What nonsense! The guy with the Yacht has to pay personal property taxes on the damned thing. Just look at “what your boy, J.Effing Kerry” tried to do to avoid his “fair share” on the $750k yacht that John Heinz “widow” bought for him. As for the other nostrum about “corporate Jet owners” these planes are a depreciable business asset, just like the buildings in which they house their businesses. The IRS sets up the allowable depreciation on everything so if you are unhappy about the jet write offs, call the IRS and complain! I am 71 get SSI, and have to include it as income when I do my taxes. This has nothing to do with the DA Vet or the family that lost their job, Get Real!
Notice how the liberals always try to pervert the discussion by using the word "wealthiest".
The truth of the matter is that the truly "wealthy" do not pay very much in Federal taxes either because the Federal Government taxes "earnings" and not "wealth".
John Kerry and Teresa Heinz are enjoying a fortune estimated at between $750 million and $1.2 Billion that they married into without ever paying a single dollar of Federal tax on the principal of that fortune.
The yearly Federal taxes on those "wealthy" individuals amount to a minuscule amount of their net worth. They get taxed merely on the unearned income they earn on investments while sitting on their yacht. Kerry, however, does get taxed on his Senate salary and paid less income tax than I did on the year he ran for President.
It is the two-income, hard-working middle class couple that pays an obscene percentage of their income in Federal tax. The hard working couple that pays $100,000 in Federal taxes each year and has managed to accumulate $1 million in net worth pays 10% of their net worth in Federal taxes year after year after year.
By such a standard, Teresa Heinz should be paying between $75 million and $120 million in Federal taxes every year.
The truth of the matter is that the laid back types pay ZERO Federal tax on their earning and the truly wealthy pay ZERO Federal tax on their wealth.
That leaves the hard-working, middle class workaholics to pay through the nose.
Amen!
LLS
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