I didn't realize that you were also talking about starting taxes after $30000 for the individual--most of your posts indicate that you want everyone to pay the same tax rate on all income. That changes the proposal to be much more reasonable for low income earners and would probably earn a lot more support to pass, but I don't think it really helps your position. You're complaining about 51% of the population not paying income taxes, but that portion would be likely be around the same or even higher if the personal deduction was $30,000 compared to the current $12,400. A person who was making $15 an hour, which is apparently absurdly high for a minimum wage, would only pay $120 per year in federal income taxes (and that's only if they don't reduce their taxable income at all by investing in a 401k, etc.). At the moment, that same person would pay $2059 per year, unless they get tax credits for having kids. So why not just lower some of the tax breaks we give to people with children?