Community | April 07, 2010 | 21 comments

Nearly half of U.S. households escape federal income taxes

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100407/ap_on_bi_ge/us_no_taxes

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JohnA

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100407/ap_on_bi_ge/us_no_taxes

WASHINGTON – 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.

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.

The result is a tax system that exempts almost half the country from paying for programs that benefit everyone, including national defense, public safety, infrastructure and education. It is a system in which the top 10 percent of earners — households making an average of $366,400 in 2006 — paid about 73 percent of the income taxes collected by the federal government.

The bottom 40 percent, on average, make a profit from the federal income tax, meaning they get more money in tax credits than they would otherwise owe in taxes. For those people, the government sends them a payment.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100407/ap_on_bi_ge/us_no_taxes
  1. groups:
    Community,   US Politics,   Conservatives for America,   Socialism
  2. tags:
    Socialism,  Redistribution of Wealth
  3.     
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21 comments // Nearly half of U.S. households escape federal income taxes

  • spanishinquistion
  • hammywill
  • 2hellnwait
  • JohnA
    • +1
      JohnA [removed]  

    • Come on, where are all the assholes telling me how great Obamacare will be, when it turns out they aren't paying a fucking dime to begin with. Did your balls shrink up when the truth hit you in the face? Come on, let's hear it, preach to me how great free health care will be with me paying the tab. You aren't paying now, what do you care. I'm paying the bills here, and some politicians better start recognizing that and quick. I wonder what JFK would think about a country where 47% don't pay any federal tax. I just can't believe no one has called me a racist yet.

    • 3 years ago
  • Saladin
    • -2
      Saladin  

    • This is more telling about the state of the U.S. economy than it is about people not paying taxes.

      They act like it's some kind of travesty that a family of four making 50,000 doesn't pay taxes. That's fucking 25,000 a year per parent! That's barely above the bare necessities of food, shelter, utilities, childcare and health insurance. And that was supposed to be their -egregious- example.

      The top ten percent of people -really- aren't hurting right now. Especially since they own over 40% of the country's land and their corporations ALSO don't pay any taxes.

    • 3 years ago
  • JohnA
    • +3
      JohnA [removed]  
    • Saladin:

      All these people arguing for government health care keep telling me I shouldn't be mad at paying for that, it's for the public good, like the police department and the post office, well turns out, they aren't paying for any of that shit either. I am. I pay. Read the article, 40% make money scamming the government, they get more back than they ever paid in. That's my fucking money I worked for and I earned. Not them, me. But the government has determined that they are more deserving of the money I work for than I am. Well, fuck the God damned government. I think maybe a good old fashioned tea party is quite in order. You take my money and spend it however you please, while people who contribute nothing keep voting you into office. That is taxation without representation, and I have had enough!

    • 3 years ago
  • Saladin
  • 2hellnwait
  • 2helenahandbasket
    • 0
      2helenahandbasket  
    • Saladin:

      I think it's interesting that so many folks get a nice fat tax return check from the government for much more than they paid in. And just where did THAT money come from? And $50,000 a year is low income? Come on, saladin.

    • 3 years ago
  • hammywill
  • hammywill
  • 2hellnwait
  • hammywill
  • 2hellnwait
  • hammywill
  • 2hellnwait
  • krag2112
    • 0
      krag2112  
    • JohnA:

      Yeah...fuck the government. Fuck the teachers who educate your kids. Fuck the soldiers who fight your wars. Fuck the firemen and police who keep you safe. Fuck the first responders and fuck our public parks. Fuck the paved roads and the clean air and fuck the water too. Fuck the government that insures that the money you put in the bank will be there when you want to withdraw it. Fuck the medicare that pays for your parents medical procedures and fuck the social security your grandparents use to pay their rent. Fuck the government that keeps the price of gas affordable and fuck the post office too. And while you're at it...fuck the government that helped create the internet so that you can go on a fucking message board and complain that you're not poor enough to avoid paying taxes like the fucking ingrate that you are.

    • 3 years ago
  • JohnA
  • krag2112
  • 2hellnwait
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