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Interesting, but lacking the data I consider critical; FICA etc. should not be counted, IMHO. Joel Send a noteboard - 25/02/2012 02:10:45 AM
The link below (which I also posted further down in the thread) is a blog post by a member of the Tax Policy Center, which did the research. It says:

It is no accident, btw, that the number of people not paying income tax was so high in 2009. You may have noticed that we’ve had a recession lately. And here is a powerful insight: When people’s incomes decline so too does their income tax (at least most of the time). At the same time, many working families have benefited from temporary tax cuts aimed at boosting the economy, and as a result some did not pay income taxes last year. As the economy improves and those tax cuts expire, it should also be no surprise that the share of people who don't pay income taxes will likely shrink from half last year to less than 40 percent by 2012.

Medicare, Social Security and the like are special cases, because they are effectively more investment trust funds than the taxes they nominally are. Past debates over whether SS etc. are "taxes" require I state this very carefully, but you know what I mean, I am sure. People who live long enough (theoretically) get back—with interest—every dime paid into SS and Medicare; SS withholding is capped partly for that reason. Medicare and SS were not meant to finance government (even though SS did just that for a generation, until its balance finally became negative last year; now we have a BIG problem amounting to about 15% of our federal debt by itself.)

It is fair to not count such things as the nominal "tax" they are, since they only represent entitlements held in trust, to be later returned to taxpayers. They reduce the amount of money people have to pay bills today, but only in exchange for increasing money available for that tomorrow. They do nothing to support national government. It is reasonable to say people who only pay SS and Medicare taxes do not pay part of the countrys costs, because it is true. There is a very good reason for that (i.e. they cannot,) but the statement is essentially sound.
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This message last edited by Joel on 25/02/2012 at 02:19:34 AM
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Why Joel is CRAZY - Nearly Half of All Americans Don't Pay Federal Income Taxes - 23/02/2012 04:43:15 AM 1407 Views
A not so hypothetical situation... - 23/02/2012 05:46:44 AM 832 Views
Your paying more money now than then. Lower rate but more money *NM* - 23/02/2012 07:52:51 AM 508 Views
Accurate statement, but not a justification *NM* - 23/02/2012 03:44:55 PM 397 Views
Re: A not so hypothetical situation... - 23/02/2012 02:39:43 PM 938 Views
I don't know much about that. - 23/02/2012 03:53:27 PM 774 Views
Why the heck do you think the current tax system is skewed to the rich? - 23/02/2012 03:18:43 PM 972 Views
That's a fair question - 23/02/2012 03:52:08 PM 861 Views
Once again, poor people have no money with which to pay taxes. - 23/02/2012 06:23:07 AM 990 Views
50% of America is not "poor" or too poor to pay federal income taxes..... - 23/02/2012 01:01:24 PM 887 Views
It clearly is, if they're not paying taxes. - 23/02/2012 02:32:54 PM 849 Views
Regarding the mortgage deduction..... - 23/02/2012 03:20:37 PM 972 Views
You base that statement on what, exactly? Fervent desire that it be true? - 25/02/2012 12:43:30 AM 1359 Views
2009 (the year cited for this claim) was an outlier because of temporary tax cuts and the economy. - 25/02/2012 01:14:01 AM 1131 Views
Interesting, but lacking the data I consider critical; FICA etc. should not be counted, IMHO. - 25/02/2012 02:10:45 AM 989 Views
You're operating under the same fallacy he does - that people should pay income taxes. - 23/02/2012 12:05:52 PM 1030 Views
In much the same way - 23/02/2012 01:40:58 PM 983 Views
Same argument re: fallacies - 24/02/2012 02:52:17 PM 813 Views
Was meant as a joke reply - 02/03/2012 06:30:15 PM 1000 Views
Joel is crazy, but I highly doubt that this is "why" - 23/02/2012 01:36:37 PM 1021 Views
HA! HA! Very well played! *NM* - 23/02/2012 03:49:35 PM 354 Views
You mention this statistic all the time. - 23/02/2012 02:16:47 PM 708 Views
Obviously, we are talking about the bottom 50%..... - 23/02/2012 03:22:43 PM 742 Views
How do you account for retired folks? - 23/02/2012 04:18:59 PM 957 Views
social security isn't taxable either *NM* - 24/02/2012 04:21:21 AM 412 Views
Easy... he doesn't. - 25/02/2012 02:56:05 AM 692 Views
I wonder how much of that statistic is students - 23/02/2012 02:22:58 PM 967 Views
Federal taxes - 23/02/2012 04:18:22 PM 831 Views
Your figures are fairly unrealistic - 23/02/2012 04:54:44 PM 1030 Views
Not entirely. - 23/02/2012 06:30:18 PM 779 Views
On exempting SS income: - 25/02/2012 02:30:43 AM 782 Views
Is there any reason why one should exclude the other? - 23/02/2012 07:32:09 PM 830 Views

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