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My daughter made $23,000 last year. She not only paid 15% of her earnings in FICA, she paid over $1500 in Federal Income Tax and $200 in State income tax. Like I said, who are these 50.5%

The state income tax payment is a non-sequitor as we're talking federal income tax.

Is your daughter self employed? If not, she didn't pay 15% in FICA, she paid half that, her employer paid the other half (yes, I understand the argument that if that tax wasn't there she COULD have the additional employer participation in her pocket, or not). FICA has been sold as insurance premiums (hence the I in OADSI) and most people think of it as a retirement program.

As far as the percentage of people not paying federal income tax, they aren't single without dependents, so you're daughter (if I may assume she's not claiming dependents) doesn't qualify. Mostly they are single parent households with low income and large number of dependents. Check form 1040A and don't forget to add that child tax credit (refundable) in. I don't know where 50%+ came from , but the IRS does show around 47% not paying federal INCOME tax (this does not include payroll tax regardless of the fact that those receipts end up in the general fund anyway). They may pay through withholding, but the combination of refundable tax credits like EIC and child tax credit result in no tax liability and in many cases a refund of free money they didn't pay in, ostensibly to offset their payroll taxes (see SSA for an explanation of the EITC).

And to add to this, recently we've had a nice expose of a tax "preparation" scam here in Tidewater VA (and in other states since the company is in multiple states) of a company called "Mo' Money" tax service that was fraudulently preparing tax returns of mainly low income people which netted huge refunds (they made their money on a percentage of the refund). Thankfully they've been outted and are under investigation.

Is your daughter self employed? If not, she didn't pay 15% in FICA, she paid half that, her employer paid the other half

No, she paid it all. The amount the employer pays is the same that she pays and it all comes out of HER earnings.

FICA has been sold as insurance premiums (hence the I in OADSI) and most people think of it as a retirement program.

I don't care how it is sold, it is a tax on income and to make it worse it is a tax on wages. Every working American pays 15% of their income in taxes before they pay any of the other non-FICA taxes. They also pay gasoline taxes, excise taxes, luxury taxes, and tons of hidden fees for every penny they spend.

The problem is not that these people aren't paying their fair share, the problem is that the government is just too damn big and government spending is out of control.