Tax the rich? Sounds kinda like we already are. Maybe, just maybe, we've got an out-of-control government promoting the out-of-control governed? And by the looks of it, the middle class is being ripped apart between the makers and the takers: those who make more are taxed more; those who make less are given more all at the bequest of an all-powerful, centralized Leviathan...but don't dare call their progressivism by the 'S' word.MarketWatch: Many Americans don’t have to worry about giving Uncle Sam part of their hard-earned cash for their income taxes this year.
An estimated 45.3% of American households — roughly 77.5 million — will pay no federal individual income tax, according to data for the 2015 tax year from the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan Washington-based research group. (Note that this does not necessarily mean they won’t owe their states income tax.)
Roughly half pay no federal income tax because they have no taxable income, and the other roughly half get enough tax breaks to erase their tax liability, explains Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center.
Despite the fact that rich people paying little in the way of income taxes makes plenty of headlines, this is the exception to the rule: The top 1% of taxpayers pay a higher effective income-tax rate than any other group (around 23%, according to a report released by the Tax Policy Center in 2014) — nearly seven times higher than those in the bottom 50%.
On average, those in the bottom 40% of the income spectrum end up getting money from the government. Meanwhile, the richest 20% of Americans, by far, pay the most in income taxes, forking over nearly 87% of all the income tax collected by Uncle Sam.
Related links: 45 Percent of Americans Won't Pay Federal Income Tax
57% of Americans Say Their Income Taxes Are Too High. Only 55.5% Pay Income Tax. What?
Bernie Sanders Took $60,200 in Tax Deductions!
THE SIMPLE FLAT TAX PLAN SUMMARY
