51% of Americans pay no Fed income tax

[volinbham]

51% of Americans Pay No Federal Income Taxes - Derek Thompson - Business - The Atlantic

:blink:

That's over 1/2 if I did my math right...

Some other fun facts -

The share of taxes paid by the top quintile has increased steadily.

The rich in the U.S. pay a GREATER share of their income in taxes than the rich in Canada, UK, Germany, France, Japan and every other OECD country.

Wait, I thought they were paying enough?

 

[kev20]

*weren't

 

[droski]

it's all the rich people not paying income taxes. that's what gibbs tells me at least.

 

[volinbham]

*weren't

:hi:

 

[volfanjustin]

The wealthy need to pay their fair share.

 

[milohimself]

I'm already sold that 'broadening the tax base' means eliminating this for most (fine with the idea of very low income -- say, 100-125% of poverty line non-dependent -- netting zero taxes). The trend of the top 20% earners increasing their share of the total gov't receipt can be attributed to increasing disparities in income.

 

[volinbham]

I thought the OECD number was the most revealing - our rich pay a higher share of their income in taxes than all those other countries we are supposed to be emulating. That's real world gorilla dung so close to my back door I almost stepped in it on the way to get my tennis racket out of the woodshed to achieve my GSM

 

[Slydell]

Somebody needs to pay my taxes for a while. I'm tired.

 

[volinbham]

I'm already sold that 'broadening the tax base' means eliminating this for most (fine with the idea of very low income -- say, 100-125% of poverty line non-dependent -- netting zero taxes). The trend of the top 20% earners increasing their share of the total gov't receipt can be attributed to increasing disparities in income.

The problem with the last part is that many believe the "fix" for income disparities is to make the rich less rich by raising their taxes.

 

[Volst53]

we want the same programs, but a different tax system.

 

[milohimself]

The problem with the last part is that many believe the "fix" for income disparities is to make the rich less rich by raising their taxes.

I'd like to see the same charts for the rest of the countries on that list. I'd be willing to bet the bottom four fifths are more productive than they are here. Yet they can achieve that through lower overall rates on the top 10%.

 

[kptvol]

Clear example of upwards wealth distribution. If you can't see that, you need to look out the backdoor.

 

[rjd970]

Include GE and the like in that 51%. Also, I seriously doubt most of those in the top quintile actually pay the top rate.

That said, 51% not paying into the system is definitely problematic.

 

[milohimself]

Include GE and the like in that 51%. Also, I seriously doubt most of those in the top quintile actually pay the top rate.

It's not saying they're paying the top rate, it was the percentage of taxes actually paid based on share of income.

 

[droski]

Also, I seriously doubt most of those in the top quintile actually pay the top rate.
.

i bet almost all pay the top rate. only question is what % of their income gets taxed at that rate.

 

[milohimself]

Nice way of putting it.

 

[hndog609]

The last full breakdown year I found is 2008. In that year the top .1% (not 1 but .1) with a positive AGI filed fewer than 140K returns but paid 18.47% of the income taxes. (the top 1% was 38.02)

That's pretty damn top heavy.

 

[milohimself]

The last full breakdown year I found is 2008. In that year the top .1% (not 1 but .1) with a positive AGI filed filed fewer than 140K returns but paid 18.47% of the income taxes. (the top 1% was 38.02)

That's pretty damn top heavy.

Consider what the incomes of those people are. 160k of them could be paying a smaller share of taxes than a family making $80k and still form up that sort of share.

 

[WA_Vol]

1 in 7 is on food stamps too.
Any surprise the country is bankrupt?

 

[droski]

Nice way of putting it.

not trying to be snarky, but virtually every rich person i know is paying at the maximum rate. they just have real estate and munis and the like that make part of the income not taxable.

 

[VolDad]

Include GE and the like in that 51%. Also, I seriously doubt most of those in the top quintile actually pay the top rate.

That said, 51% not paying into the system is definitely problematic.

How would they get away with not; wouldn’t the Alternative Minimum Tax ensure they do?

 

[WillisWG]

The below site seems to be unbiased. Their 2008 data shows the upper 50% paying a 97.3% share of all taxes paid and reporting 87.25% of all AGI reported. What's the old saying "can't get blood from a turnip".

The Tax Foundation - Summary of Latest Federal Individual Income Tax Data

 

[rjd970]

How would they get away with not; wouldn’t the Alternative Minimum Tax ensure they do?

I don't know...offshore accounts, tax shelters, deductions. I'm not rich enough to know how it works.

 

[VolDad]

I don't know...offshore accounts, tax shelters, deductions. I'm not rich enough to know how it works.

Money put in offshore accounts would have already been taxed when received as income. The Alternative Minimum Tax negates shelters and deductions.

 

[WA_Vol]

I listened to a Warren Buffet interview, where he said it was very easy to pay zero income tax for people in his income bracket. he said you setup a company to loan money from a holding company to your company and you could always show a loss. I'm paraphrasing here, he said he didn't do it because he thought it was ethicly wrong, but he said it was perfectly legal.