47% of households pay no federal income tax

Is the Associated Press just realizing this fact? I wrote about this in 2008 and Rush Limbaugh has had the information on his home page forever. We really are spreading the wealth around when it comes to the federal tax burden in the United States.

To start off, here is my post from sometime in Oct. 2008 that was republished by me in Feb. 2009. Keep in mind that my data is now four years old, with statistics that were available when the post was written.

From today’s AP story. (Do read the full article.)

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.

You can argue about the source, but my data comes directly from IRS published information and all of my information was completely sourced.

Remember, this is 2006 data, but my guess is we are even more “out-of-balance” than before.

What group do you fall into? To sum up the statistics…

  • If your family makes under $30k, you’re in the bottom half of wage earners, and that group pays 2.53% of federal income taxes collected.
  • If your family makes more than $30k, you’re in the top half of wage earners, and that group pays 97.47% of federal income taxes collected.
  • If your family makes more than $41k, you’re in the top 41% of all wage earners, and that group pays 94.8% of federal income taxes collected.
  • If your family makes more than $50k, you’re in the top third of all wage earners, and that group pays 91.62% of federal income taxes collected.
  • If your family makes more than $75k, you’re in the top 20% of wage earners, and that group pays 82.4% of federal income taxes collected.
  • If your family makes more than $100k, you’re in the top 12% of wage earners, and that group pays 73.61% of federal income taxes collected.
  • If your family makes more than $200k, you’re in the top 3% of wage earners, and that group pays 53.16% of federal income taxes collected.
  • If your family makes more than $500k, you’re in the top 1% of wage earners, and that group pays 35.87% of federal income taxes collected.

Update: Jim Hoft and I following the same stuff today, as is AP at Hot Air.

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Steve McGough

Steve's a part-time conservative blogger. Steve grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Washington, D.C. and the Bahamas. He resides in Connecticut, where he’s comfortable six months of the year.

4 Comments

  1. sammy22 on April 7, 2010 at 11:51 am

    I venture to guess that nobody likes to pay taxes, but guess what: it's a fact of life. I also believe that those who pay no Federal Income Taxes, pay other taxes to somebody (just go to the supermarket and see). Mr. Limbaugh et al. make an awful lot of money doing something?. I don't think US need to subsidize HIM.



    • Steve McGough on April 8, 2010 at 4:45 am

      Certainly many pay no income taxes, but do pay sales taxes, excise taxes and payroll taxes. Certainly, nobody is suggesting the government subsidize Limbaugh for anything.

      The point missed is that the liberal left continues to spin the "rich don't pay their fair share" garbage. It's pure fiction and a lie. Should there be some sort of means-testing when you buy gasoline, food and stereo systems?



  2. pauldow on April 8, 2010 at 4:05 am

    There's a column in that chart that we need to make a valid judgment: What is the percentage of the total earned income within each group? The number of returns in each category doesn't show how much wealth is earned in each category, especially since the category divisions aren't linear.



    • Steve McGough on April 8, 2010 at 4:37 am

      If you want to look deeper, I think the information you are looking for can be found in rows D, E and F of the original IRS data file I mentioned in the Oct. 2008/Feb. 2009 story. This link should take you there.



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