I am sorry John, but I feel a little differently about grandma on social security of $600 a month not paying any income tax than some wealthy guy making over $200,000 in "expanded" income paying nothing. I think it is unfair when millionaires pay 13% and my 20 year old kid making $14,000 paid 15% of his income last year.

BTW, we make over $200K and we pay more than enough in taxes. These "loop holes" are designed for the SUPER rich and they can manipulate the system to pay less than me. That is also unfair, let's do something that treats everyone fairly.

angie has nailed it, when you count children and the elderly and demand they pay equal taxes you know your just spouting a random talking point. That is utter garbage, that was bad and you should feel bad.

These "loop holes" are designed for the SUPER rich and they can manipulate the system to pay less than me.

Charitable contribution deductions, medical expense deductions and the first-time home buyer credit are loopholes?! Worse yet, they're loopholes designed for the SUPER (not just super, but SUPER) rich?! You need to get a grip Angie.

And while I'm here, you and your significant other make over $200k and you DON'T take the charitable contribution deduction? If not, I hope that's because you choose not to take a deduction that you are entitled to and not because you're not sharing your wealth with the many worthy charities out there.

Have a nice day. :)

Angie:

I agree with your basic theory, but I cringe when I see arguments such as yours that confuse different issues in defense of a valid point. Unless your kid paid $2,100 in federal income taxes, he does not pay 15% of his income toward these taxes. He may be in the 15% MARGINAL bracket, but look at his total income taxes as a percent of his AGI. It is far less than 15%. If it's not, I'll do his return for him and split the savings. Disagree, but be smart in your arguments.

I would rather make $500,000 a year and pay 50% taxes than make $18,000 and pay NO taxes. Talk about a skewed story...the OP is good at that.

It is also best to understand the term "Income Tax",,, this is the tax on Income above any adjusted amount..

Seniors and the Poor, in fact do pay taxes.. these can and do include, Sales, Withholding, and other taxes as well as FEES that are nothing more than taxes by the different name..

John, they're missing the premise- that 50% don't pay (its probably higher if they counted illegals). I agree with everything you wrote 100%!

How true. Make those elderly pay some taxes. They've had it too good for too long living high on the hog in those nursing homes.

Pullmyfinger, a single person making $18K a year with children will bring home more than one making $60K a year and that is wrong.

John, will you shut up with the faux news propaganda about half of people not paying income tax. Those people are too poor to pay any taxes. God man get it through your thick brainwashed skull. And considering the fake new source, I doubt that figure is entirely correct.

Oh those poor millionaires and billionaires who have to pay taxes while poor people get a free ride. Oh what an injustice.

John, the real problem is that your facts are skewed, you clearly watch too much Fox news and don't really think for yourself. Typical conservative. Why don't you learn about our tax codes before spewing your propaganda? Or maybe you have a link to a study that shows half of our population does not pay one penny income tax? I won't hold my breath.

John, you watch Fox too much. Everyone pays FICA and Medicare who works.... most people who earn less than $30,000 pay zip in Fed taxes, but pay a boatload in FICA and Medicare, but of course that doesn't play to the GOP nuts!!!!

my 20 year old kid making $14,000 paid 15%

We made 91K and paid 6.13% most people making more than 200K pay 10% or more most people making less than 44K pay 0% income tax.

Bitz, you are purchasing a product with FICA and Medicare and those evil corporations have to match it.

50% are not paying any Federal Income tax and that is wrong.

Since the top 10% own 95% of the wealth of the country wouldn't it be fair to ask them to pay 95% of the tax money used to defend and run the country?

I know that wouldn't play well in far right wing land where they want even the homeless to pay income tax on the money they get from the cans and bottles they collect from trash bins.

The reason they are able to zero out the taxes is because the deductions are so high. The deductions are so high because the taxes are so high to the point if the deductions aren't awarded, people could never afford houses or medical costs. Worse yet, even with the deductions people still probably cannot afford the housing or medical costs.

Rick, I know you'd like to think the top pay nothing but just take a look at this pretty easily comprehended chart:

http://www.heritage.org/federalbudget/top10-percent-income-earners

And btw, most resources I could find seem to indicate the top 10% control around 70-80% of the wealth. Would seem to me their tax rate is pretty much in line with their wealth control. Really it's the middle 40% or rather those who aren't in the top 10% nor the 50% who don't pay a dime, who are getting the royal shaft.

.

and my 20 year old kid making $14,000 paid 15% of his income last year.

and thats a lie libs love, he will get a huge return on those taxes, you know it, i know it, but people like to deny it.

trudat6445,

Your statement seems contradictory. I thought all conservatives were against taxes and all liberals were for more taxes. Why would "libs" lie about income tax rates and withholding when they want to increase everyone's tax?

because shady, libs only want taxes raised on everyone but themselves, libs are the most selfish, self-involved people on the planet.

Ask people in Finland how they like their 60 percent tax levy and you will hear about how great the schools are, their healthcare system, guaranteed pensions, and their low crime rate.

John- what do you mean half don't pay taxes?

The poor have got the worst end of the bargain in a recession caused by the rich bankers. Many of the poor have lost jobs, or have been stuck with low-paying part time jobs - while the bankers have got bonuses using taxpayers' bailout money.

Even so, this half (the poor) still pay taxes - payroll taxes for example - for social security and medicare and many other forms of taxes imbedded in goods and services they purchase (such as gas tax - can you go anywhere without paying for gas with taxes imbedded).

WOW, I am surprised by your false indignation, or just that you are grossly uninformed?

50% of the population don't pay any taxes," guess why"

I am so sick of these liberal articles. Even if you charge all 35,000 of these people one million dollars per year in taxes, this will only amount to 35 billion per year. We currently spend more than 1 trillion dollars per year, that we don't have, just to maintain the government for one year.

I guess granny's social security check, and veterans benefits check should be cut too, to make ends meet, right?

H@!! No! Get the government out of the way, lower the taxes, and make it easy to do business in the U.S. ---- then the economy will grow. Haven't you ever grown anything in your life? To grow something you need sunlight and water. Give the sunlight by getting out of the way and lowering business taxes. Give the water by stopping to print money we don't have. Let the economy expand and decide where the real money will go by supply and demand. Grow the economy and then eat it's fruit. You don't just eat the excess fruit from the past. It's all going to run out soon, it we don't start planting now. Plant now, then eat it's fruit later. If we don't plant now, we won't have any later.

onemanvolt - they also have decent politicians over there. Not like here where they are only interested in how much money they can make in back room deals and from lobbyists.

I'm sorry, I just can't get outraged that one hundredth of one percent of our population who happens to make more than $200k/year paid no federal income tax one year. I tried, I really did, but I just couldn't do it. I guess it's because in the big scheme of things, it's really irrelevant. The tax base doesn't exist (and never will) to support our government's current and future unfunded liabilities.

My mom is on SSI and a pension from working 35 years at the same company and she is taxed on every dime. POOR PEOPLE PAY TAXES!

Who doesn't pay any taxes is Michelle Bachman and Jim Bob Duggar because they have a ton of rugrats. If you claim married and 10 kids you pay ZERO taxes. Who else pays no taxes is the Bimbo down the street who puts a sign in her yard every sunday saying "Church of Christ", no one ever shows up to listen her preach but she claims she is a chruch and pays no taxes. If you want to balance the budget and pay off the national debt make the evangelicals in the mega churces pay taxes and well as the catholic church.

Pullmyfinger, a single person making $18K a year with children will bring home more than one making $60K a year and that is wrong.

Wow. Now that's the biggest pile of horse dung I believe I have ever heard. I make $60k, pay a normal amount of taxes as it is all "income" and take home well over $18k. Well over. So even if the person making $18k a year paid absolutely nothing in taxes, he would even come close to what I take home.

Where on earth do you get your information and why do you so readily believe it?

John277... You got it right. my response is: "SO WHAT?" Only libby wealth distributors give a big rats azz about this...

Voter in LA--I was intrigued by your comment and went to the site you recommended, which had words like "heritage" and "federal budget" in the URL.

After I read it, I was a bit confused, but then I noticed that at the top it says it is "A Product of the Entitlement Issues." Hmm . . . Entitlements. Doesn't that really read "Tea Party" and "extreme conservatives?"

At the bottom of the page, there were several links which were clearly very conservative, and even a few that made direct hits on President Obama, as well as others that made slightly more oblique hints.

Are you trying to propose this to us as something we should believe? It is so clearly intended to slam the Democrats with distorted facts! Whatever my beliefs and opinions are, I would hope that if I presented information to others it would be fair and honest. I don't think this article is.

If we confiscated all the wealth and assets in the US, we still wouldn't be able to pay for the debt and entitlements. If we taxed all the wealthy 100% of their income, we wouldn't have enough to cover the interest on the debt. Our problem is entitlements, promising too many people too much money that we don't have. We borrow to pay them and go further in the hole.

Sorry people, but something is going to change, radically, in our system. What we have today will be a fairy tale luxury cruise compared to the way will be forced to live soon.

Redistribution of the wealth, socialism and class warfare only last as long as the money is there to confiscate and squander. When it runs out, things will change dramatically.

I made around $100k and paid about 30% tax overall, I paid, and paid a lot! The myth of 'rich' people not paying is hogwash. The lucky few who are a very small portion of the total workforce had enough deductions to pay no taxes. Even our liberal president opted to not give his money to the government, but gave to charity of his choice rather than allowing the government to confiscate and squander it in its extremely inefficient manner. You can do the same thing, either give a good portion of your extra money away and get a tax deduction, or let the government confiscate it. If you give to charity, at least you will have a good idea of where the money was spent, rather than squandered on politicians pet projects that do nothing but waste money.

doc its simple, a person making 18k a year also gets food stamps, and medicare, they also get other things like section 8 housing that pays their rent, they get help with thier heating bills. when you add up all the benifits they can get it comes out to an extra 32k a year, so they now bring home 50k a year.

Taxes should not be "fair" and should not be used as a wealth redistribution mechanism. Taxes are meant for you to pay for the government and public services that you use. Use more, pay more. Use less, pay less.

The current tax code only encourages abuse and resentment and that can never be good for the country!

Sorry Voter in LA,

I don't pay attention to what the Heritage Foundation says.

And thats my opinion.

Trudat, it is not a lie. He paid those taxes. If you are a poor single kid you do not get big refunds.

HE ACTUALLY PAID THE TAX AND THAT DOES NOT COUNT THE PAYROLL TAXES.

Do not call me a lying lib when you do not know what you are talking about.

What MSNDC wants you to think:

"35,000 wealthy earners pay no income tax"

Reality:

"35,000 workers followed the rules placed by the government exactly to the letter and did not break any laws"

The first is just to stir up more outrage, class warfare at it's finest, Obama's politics of blame and envy.

The second is true, but doesn't fit the MSNDC/TalkingPoints agenda.

Never ceases to amaze me that theres always a tea bagger coming in to these forums and protect the rich and demonize the poor. Well my little tea bagging friend, if you really believe half of all Americans do not pay taxes, most educated Americans would wrap these same people in that 50% and you'd be just as angry at them as you are the poor you so love to demonize. Know who else doesn't pay taxes bagger? Think of all those parents that are popping out kids and getting refunds bigger than what they paid in for the year. Yet, people like you ignore the reality and follow the rhetoric. Makes you wonder how much the original poster paid in taxes, if any.

Hungrymongoose I am so tired of whiners who want a friendly climate in this country. You had it and have it and we got the biggest recession thanks to the politicians on both sides of the aisle - the gutless and the greedy. Whiners - better business climate? Rape the country is what you mean! You want business without risk and without responsibility. You business to use - no - abuse states and cities and towns and workers for the benefit of a few. Sorry. No deal. Time to take responsibility for young men dying for business in wars overseas. Whining Republicans and baggers.

oh boo hoo, some poor people paid no taxes- what are you gonna do go shake down the retarded kid for his lunch money, or go after the homeless man for his spare change? I know its all those disabled people, look at 'em paying no taxes eating food slurpies.... see how ridiculous you are, of that half it includes grandma, that down's afflicted person bagging your groceries, the 15 year old who works part time mowing lawns, the homeless, the unemployed, single parents, the profoundly disabled... they don't pay taxes cause they don't any money to tax. let me do the math for you idiots- 35% of 0 or nothing is ...uh nothing , zero, 0, zip, zilch. If you want to grip you should be griping about the child tax credit - that is what zeroes out otherwise collectible taxes on people. It sure isnt being low income- i make $8 an hour and I paid 15% of my limited income in taxes, why? I dont have kids so i dont get paid an extra 10 grand a year from you guys (child tax credit) but that would likely bite you too so why are you complaining again?

Angie, I am sorry, but if you son paid 15% of his income in income taxes, than he paid almost three times what he needed to pay. With just the standard deduction for being single taken out, at $14,000 in gross income, he should have only paid $805, 5.75%. Even if you were counting his medicare/ss taxes, that would be a total of 11.4%. Still well under 15%, and I suspect there are other deductions he was eligable for that would have brought his income tax due even lower than that.

If he paid more than that, he paid it for no reason, and therefore you can't claim the system isn't "fair," if he didn't actually use the system.

aggrevated, that goes for you to, if you make $8/hr, you probably took home about $16,000 in gross income for the year? If you paid 15% in marginal income taxes, you were due a refund.

Certain tax breaks can only be used by people who are earning enough to pay taxes in. We have tax breaks for buying the hybrid car, solar panels for your house and several others. If you added all those up, I can see how you would not pay taxes for a single year. if they are finding loop holes that allow them to zero out their taxes year after year. I would agree that is not the way the system should work.

You also need to take into account that certain jobs require you to spend part of your salary to do your job. I am in sales I make a decent salary but I put 30,000 miles a year on my car. While I get paid for mileage that does not cover the total cost related to the expense that I have with my car.

Since Mitt Romney has been running for president a lot has been made of his tax rate. If we divided that equally between our population at an average of 50,000 per year we as a country would receive less tax revenue then we would by having him pay the 15%. He is also making his money from capital gains. There is no guarantee that he would make the same next year. The fact is he is risking his money to make money.

As far as investments overseas goes, if you have a 401k or a mutual fund more than likely you also have money invested overseas.

You cannot regulate success, you can through regulation guarantee failure.

The poor are just as greedy as you accuse the rich of being. We should help people to better themselves not support them to such a level that they do not even want to try!

Kirigami, you're entitled to your belief. I didn't chose the link because of its political message. I chose it because of its graphic and easy to comprehend chart. As an Independent voter I believe in looking at MULTIPLE sources. Also, regardless of the political inclinations of The Heritage Foundation, the chart I linked to is based off information taken directly from the IRS website. it is just presented in a nice simple pictorial fashion. If you want to take the time, export the various csv's from the IRS public databases into a nice little chart you can create in Excel. Surprisingly, the result though will be the same.

However, keep your partisan blinkers on and chose to ignore facts and live blissfully reading only news sources that support what you want to believe not necessarily what is really true. After all that's pretty typical of people who are radical supporters of both the DNC and GOP.

What jumped out at me was the fact that the Senate didn't pass the Buffet rule, which would have MADE those greedy punks pay their share. Greed is sickening and disgusting. You can polish a turd, but when the polish is gone...it's still a turd.

Most people pay sales taxes that are imbedded in all goods and services

This form of regressive taxes hurts the poor even more.

I don't give much credit to the Heritage Foundation. They're anti-gay.

I did too. Good question.

Most people "get around this" by deductions for kids, home loans, retirement contributions of one kind or another, charitable contributions and a plethora of other things. The tax code has so many holes it looks like it got hit by a shotgun.

Others "get around this" by being dirt poor.

People who own tax free municipal bonds and live in the state in which the bonds originate pay no federal or state taxes on the interest they earn. Of course, it is low interest and the interest is tax free so people will fund utilities and other municipal projects and accept low interest.

Well... that use to be the case. If you own $100,000 in municipals (the bonds not the mutual fund) you can be getting around 4% in PA tax free. If you are in the 28% bracket marginal rate, that's like getting 6% or so. In today's economy I'll take that all day long (and I do)... and I pay NO Fed or State on that income. That's the tax law and it sure beats CD's at 1% or whatever. The key is to own the bonds with a reasonable call date and realize that IF you do not sell before they are called you will not lose principal. That's why I do NOT own the mutual funds. I can loose in that. Also... I only buy bonds which are guaranteed... and only revenue bonds, not general obligation bonds. Sewer Bonds are among my favorites.

You have to really work at it to pay 0 taxes. In a good year my household might bring in 80K theres deductions & expemtions that i dont even bother to claim simply because i'm too lazy to keep that many recipts. You have to have a heart of scum to try & get a bill for nothing. Even a wealthy person drives on the same roads & breathes the same air as anyone else. But its like beating a dead horse trying to get some of these loosers to pay any tax.

I think it would be a good idea for outraged lower middle-class and middle-class taxpayers who have been berated by their wealthy Congressman and Senator, should deluge their mailboxes and E-mail boxes, with a pointed question. " Why haven't I heard you over the past 4 years, say anything about this on the House or Senate Floor?"

I with ya!

If the father makes $1million in taxable income and pays $250,000 to his ex-wife as child support then the ex-wife has "expanded" income over $200,000 but doesn't pay any taxes because child support is not taxed. Note, the father though does pay tax on the full $1M because he doesn't get to deduct the $250,000 payment from his taxable income. This is how 100% of the taxable income is taxed but only 50% of the people with "expanded" income over $200,000 pay taxes.

This is how statistics lie and mislead.

It's not just the deductions. Capital gains and dividends are taxed at preferred rates. If your taxable income is low enough, that preferred rate is 0%. Wealthy individuals who make all of their income on investments can come up with enough deductions to bring themselves into that 0% range. (otherwise the rate is 15%).

NOTE: I'm a tax accountant and I must admit, it does make you glance twice when you see NONE at the bottom of a return.

The AMT is a minimum tax on TAXABLE income. You have to have TAXABLE income above certain thresholds before the AMT kicks in. If you have NON-TAXABLE income, then that income is NON-TAXABLE. (Go figure!) The people they are talking about are those whose TAXABLE income combined with their NON-TAXABLE income is above $200K; otherwise called EXPANDED income. And folks, 0.8% of those with EXPANDED income above $200K just ain't a whole bunch of folk relatively speaking. Another non-story presented by those who desire conflict between fellow citizens.

Some silly comments in this thread, attempting to distract from the core story: 35,000 Americans got the benefits of national defense, an interstate highway system, FAA, FDA, and countless other services ... and didn't pay a dime in federal taxes while making considerably more money than the rest of us who paid our fair share and theirs' too. I have a simple solution: pay up or lose your citizenship and leave immediately. Since a number of these people are probably keeping a lot of their money in off-shore accounts, outsourcing jobs to other continents whenever possible, and likely employing illegal aliens to do their domestic chores ... I say good riddance.

Scam article

0.8% of workers making good money paid zero taxes.....

How about 50% paid NONE at all....

That's news and important...................WASTE

Yeah Greg M. Those poor and elderly should be flogged, huh?

/sarcasm

"billionaire Warren Buffett implored lawmakers to tax the rich more."

But his company, Birkshire Hathaway, owes over a $360 Million for income taxes from almost a decade ago.

Perhaps Buffett should 'lead by example' and pay his taxes.

This article is so biased it is ridiculous. Just because a very small percentage of those making over $200,000 had enough in the way of deductions that they did not pay federal income tax does not mean the rich are getting away with anything. That small percentage may be people who had loved ones or themselves going through a major health problem and had outrageous medical bills to pay which are deductible. You are only talking about .8% of all those in this income category,so it is not some wholesale scheme to let the rich out of paying taxes.

The so called Buffett rule is also a bunch of garbage. Even if implemented the revenue it would bring in would not come to 0.1% of the budget deficit. This is nothing more than a bunch of nonsense from the Democrats to try and incite class warfare in this country to get them votes.

I wish people would take the time to educate themselves instead of just spouting their favorite politician or new personality's talking points without having a clue if they are true or what they really mean.

@greg: scam argument. The 35,000 listed are a known quantity with undisputed responsibilities and means to pay - they at least have the means to pay professionals to help them skirt their responsibilities as citizens. I suggest we take care of these loopholes and scofflaws first. As to the rest that don't pay taxes, that's a separate issue that should be dealt with on it's own - and I agree it should be dealt with. But that "number" includes disabled, retired, and people below the poverty line; so their ability and responsibility to legitimately pay taxes is going to cut into that nonsense 50% figure that the Faux Noise propaganda machine sprays around so carelessly.

Greg...

Just shut up already with that stupid faux news talking point about 50% of people pay no taxes.

Besides children and serior citizens...do you actually know one middle class citizen that pays zero taxes??

Now...do YOU fairly pay you're taxes???

Many of these people could be expats. If they are working abroad, they may have had to pay taxes to the foreign country where they are working. The US tries to tax the same income that the foreign country already taxed so the individual gets to take a deduction for the foreign taxes already paid. This can lower the US tax bill considerably but the person DID pay taxes on the income...just to the country where he is working.

"50% of americans pay no Federal taxes whatsoever,"

no, no, no. They pay no federal INCOME taxes. They do pay Social Security, Medicare, federal gasloine taxes, etc.

Newsflash 50% of Americans do pay income tax. It is just about 1/14 of what the top bracket pays. Amazingly they also make 1/14 of what the top bracket makes on average. Increase worker pay and 50% of Americans would pay even more tax, but you do not want that do you? You would rather "Lord" over everyone else like an elitist, since you worked SO hard for you money.

How about the fact that no one pays more then about 21% in an "effective" tax rate? Who cares about the marginal rate since no one ever pays it.

How about the FACT that the top 1% get 50% of their yearly income from investments and NOT WORK. The top 400 get over 80% of their income from savings and investments, HARD WORK. How can you get more then half your income WITHOUT working and complain to me that I need to work harder? And then complain even more when you might have to pay taxes on your free money...

How about that fact that taxes are the lowest in history and yet "addicts" are still complaining about paying to much in taxes...? You would not pay +70% of the taxes if you did not own +70% of America.

Try again addicts. You refuse to pay taxes and then complain about the debt, if you paid your taxes we would not have any debt. And before you spew more garbage about how you could take all the money form the rich and it would not cover the debt...B.S. I know that you have tons of cash stored in companies/corporations. I also know that if you had been paying your "fair share" of the taxes for the last 30 years then the debt would not be as high as it is. Kind of hard to ignore a problem for 30 years and expect it to get better all on its own.

So what? the wealthy use the same deductions we all have available to us, Give enough to charity, pay foreign taxes, medical bills, business expenses, 401 K deductions, advance payment of taxes for future earnings etc etc. The issue is not the 34,000 that paid no taxes but the 120,000,000 that pay no federal income tax.

As some of you ask HOW, let's not forget the use of financial gifts, money gifts used for tax breaks.

For Instance someone could gift $10,000 to just 10 people (including wife, mom, dad, uncle sister etc) and he/she gets a $100,000 tax credit. IF this same person gifted $10,000 to 30 people, he/she then gets a $300,000 tax credit and so on.

As a non-accountant I think it works like this (but not 100% positive--sorry but the concept is there)

So if someone brought in $500,000 a year and gifted out $300,000 to charities, campaign donations friends, and family---he then gets a $300,000 tax credit. And that tax credit can contribute in coming years if all is not used up in in said year. Thus, if he/she uses $100,000 of his tax credit---he/she still has $200,000 of credit to use.

sillyshrinks

No, you don't get a tax 'credit' for giving away gifts, and if the gifts exceed the limits, they actually have to pay a 'gift tax' to the IRS as well.

What we have here is a failure to communicate.

Now...what y'all need t'understand 'bout this here situation is that these good folks are what we like to refer to as 'job creators', and with all due deference to such a great societal contribution, the rest of us peons should simply agree not to make a fuss about a lil' ol' thing like no tax burden. Why...if it weren't for all these good folk workin' so hard to create jobs for the rest of us underserving slobs, now I just ask you...where would this country be today? The upper classes would be glad to explain to you anyday that the value of labor in this country is highly overrated...I repeat, HIGHLY overrated, and that the lower classes should concentrate more of their limited mental capacity on learning to accept their meager lot in life, and upon finding ways to be happy with what crumbs are left to them....I mean, what the good Lord has seen fit to provide them.

Can I get an 'AMEN'?

You pulling too many facts out of your but, nice try though.

Industrial Strength

Yet another attempt to divide the nation on income, not enough that the media does this on race, gender and sexual preferences!

50% of americans pay no Federal taxes whatsoever, never have and never will! until you have some skin in the game, shut up! Flapping your mouth only lets the free gravy you been hoggin spill out!

And your comment about the poor is not divisive? It seems to me the Tea Party was howling about the dirt poor not paying federal income tax long before the !% was referred to as the 1%!

Yea Roy EXXON pays taxes on their Earnings... Which IMO is based on ridiculously skewed Markets that only the Uber Rich can participate in..

Exxon’s revenues were $486 billion and Chevron’s were $254 billion. Compare that with the $33 billion that Apple earned in 2011 on $128 billion in revenues and Microsoft‘s $23 billion income from $72 billion of sales.

Exxon Payed 21.6 Billion in Taxes Circa 2011. That is based on approximately 10 to 18 percent Margins depending on the price of Oil.

Chevron Paid 5.9 Billion in Taxes Circa 2011, same margins.

Apple paid 18 Billion but has a much higher margin.

Microsoft paid 12 billion 2011 with similar margins.

Oil Companies do pay a lot in taxes but so do consumers when we buy gas. Not only do we pay the Government, we pay Wall Street. Getting rid of ridiculously over price Futures Markets would save consumers billions and probably help the economy.

I find it interesting that there are those who are fonding of saying 50% of the nation doesn't pay taxes instead of 50% of the nation is living at or below the poverty level.

Amazing how desperate the liberal media is for divisive headlines isn't it?

This junk article fits well with the "Banks charge college students high fees" propaganda.

Obama preaches how evil banks and successful people are, and they print garbage to attempt keep the dim-witted, greedy sheep stary eyed until election day.

50% are NOT living below the poverty line. Prove it.

Industrial you are a practicing m0r0n! Did it occur to you Einstein that the reason 50% don't pay federal tax is because they are poor? Are you proud of that? Is that your patriotic flag waving, demonstrating your country is a sucky place? I personally paid 26% in federal tax and 54% of my income overall in taxes vs. Rumney the lazy loafing rocking-chair check-collector that made billions and only paid 11%. Somehow you think that that's a fair redistribution of wealth-take from the productive and give it to the wealthy. Hell, the working people even fight the wars for those draft dodgers! SO you can take your mathematically challenged ideas of taxes, which apparently is something you know nothing about, and you can stick them in your asteroid. Even Newt paid 29%, Obama paid 27% but the super wealthy............nada.....they don't want to contribute because they are too busy hiring illegals to wash their cars, take care of the kids, mow their lawns, reap benefits from starting wars, outsourcing jobs to rape the companies.

Tell Rummney and all the other bottom feeders to pay their share...it's very simple. And when you actually pay your share maybe you can write an inteligent comment on it, but that may be unlikely since your brain is lacking of acetylcholinesterase and you other brain cell is busy telling you to breath.

here is news

In other words, 80% of Americans have an effective rate below 15%.

If you consider income tax liability alone, the average effective federal tax rate for people with incomes between $40,000 and $50,000, for instance, is just 3.2%, according to Tax Policy Center estimates. (In measuring income, the center uses gross income and adds to it other forms of compensation, such as the money your employer contributes to your retirement savings.)

The lowest income families actually have negative average effective tax rates when income tax liability alone is measured.

For families making $50,000 to $75,000, the effective tax rate is 5.7%. From $75,000 to $100,000, it's 7.2%. And if you make $200,000, it goes up to 9.9%.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/18/news/economy/Romney_effective_tax_rate/index.htm

To those of you who understand our tax structure and economy, like Roy w. Bravo it's a complex system but it's doable

For those of you that don't understand that the lions share of taxes are paid disproportionately by the rich. How stupid can you get? Y'all sound like the Am..Socialist with his line of B.S. and pap Harem sacrum the boggeyman's cheating you rhetoric. you folks appear to be dumber than doorknobs and need to retire your poor outmoded greedy "oh poor me" line of crap and go out and start saving, and yes it'll take sacrifice for awhile but, then you can start having sheltered income as well as the Boggey man rich that y'all whine about so much.

Amazing, an article on "rich" folks using the IRS Tax loopholes which result in not paying any taxes.

Meanwhile, BACK IN THE REAL WORLD, there are a LOT of elected, unelected, or appointed folks in the White House, in our Congressional Halls, and in our government agencies who FRAUDULENTLY DO NOT PAY their back IRS taxes:

• http://fromtheleft.wordpress.com/2010/09/10/41-obama-white-house-aides-owe-the-irs-831000-in-back-taxes/
• http://www.bermanpost.com/2010/09/over-280000-federal-workers-owe-33.html

Where is an INVESTIGATIVE Journalist on reporting these folks ?

And why isn't the IRS, under the Secretary of the Treasury, along with the DOJ prosecuting these folks in Federal Court ?

BTW: where is the article on the Illegal Aliens (Immigrants) receiving about $ 4,200,000,000 annually (and growing) tax refunds using the IRS tax loophole for claiming the Additional Child Tax Credit for children living in MEXICO and not related to the person submitting the IRS forms ?

Node 4 Are you still living under the impression that the rich keep their money in offshore accounts? Don't they all play follow the leader and since Mitt brought his money back to the US prior to running for the POTUS that they all did? (hahaha yeah right). I bet Mitt only brought back what he thought he had too.

So these people did EXACTLY what the federal government asked them to do to contribute to the economy & now people are going to blast them because by doing so, they owed no taxes? Ridiculous.

JS in SD

This article is so biased it is ridiculous. Just because a very small percentage of those making over $200,000 had enough in the way of deductions that they did not pay federal income tax does not mean the rich are getting away with anything.

Give me a break. If 35,000 rich people pay zero taxes, how many pay LESS than what one would consider fair? The article doesn't claim the rich are cheating, it just makes the point that the system is SO distorted that is allows some to pay ABSOLUTELY NOTHING and, therefor, many others to pay far less than they should.

Our tax system, in principle, is based on a sliding scale that taxes higher rates at the higher income levels. Our tax system, as it has been bastardized, is more like a "keep the gains, share the losses" game that is most easily played by the rich.

When the rich allow the sliding scale to actually rule the day, or even a flat tax for that matter, then we can talk about fair taxes.

ROY WILSON-336103

Great defense of the oil giants. Thanks. Maybe we should all stare at the numbers from the top earner for a moment. A 42% tax rate is claimed. I calculate a tax rate of 5.6% if I do it the way I look at my taxes. Basically, using allowable deductible expenses and SUBSIDIES, they were able to go from $486 Billion in gross income to $41 Billion in net income... great trick! I wish I could go from $48,600 in gross income to $4,100 in net income when doing my taxes!

1. ExxonMobil

Income taxes paid: $27.3 billion
Total revenue: $486 billion
Net income: $41 billion
Effective tax rate: 42%
Data: Thomson Reuters Fundamentals via FactSet Research Systems.

And there is rancour over our US debt. No one is willing to pay taxes. We expect the poor to pony up. 10% of zero is still zero.

I am not rich, just comfortable. I pay my taxes and do not gripe about it. I am a grownup who like the services that my government provides to me and others. This selfish attitude make me sick.

There is waste in government. I consider the salaries and benefits of Congress a total waste. They vote on their own salaries and benefits which should be left to the voices of their constituents.

So what? the wealthy use the same deductions we all have available to us,

You be sure to go into your boss and tell him you want to be paid in stocks, you'd like to have that money put into a trust and you'd like it most of it in deferred comp.

let me know how that works out for ya.

Tired

The top 400 get over 80% of their income from savings and investments, HARD WORK. How can you get more then half your income WITHOUT working and complain to me that I need to work harder?

Because the money they "saved and invested" was already taxed as income before they "saved and invested" it. If you had a few million bucks in the bank and could kick your feet up at the beach and live off of the interest I am sure you would as well, why is it evil because some people actually do? They got enough money to live without working BY WORKING in the first place.

And all of these folks vote for GOP - the party of 1%

It is really simple and has been said a Million times. The tax code is set to allow politicians to favor contributors with deductions and credits. DUH! All these "tax the rich" types can't add two and two to figure out that the only way to change things is to scrap the code and go to a flat tax. They won't go for that because some of them might pay income tax for the first time in thier lives or lose the tax refund they get without paying any taxes to begin with. So, stop whining, you are the ones that want to keep it the way it is.

I'm 70 years old . Never pay any income taxes. Never had a job. Had a free ride on the tax payers. 15 years in prison. Never had any regrets. If I could live my life over I would live the same way. Really enjoyed my life.

AMT is outdated and hasn't been adjusted to reflect current income levels, that's why.

But where is the uproar about Earned Income Credit (EIC)???

The government is simply handing out thousands of dollars to people as a reward for being poor!!! You know our tax code is a joke when you get screwed over for abiding to the rules.

Miss leading 35,000 wealthy

Lots of people that had lower incomes and bought a house in 2009 did not pay any taxes that year. Was probably over 1 mil

If you can use enough "credits" this takes the income away entirely. The AMT mainly penalizes middle class or upper middle class. The super rich have many more options using deductions and credits.

The average person either doesent make enough to start with or they dont live a lifestyle to even use all those stupid credits. & theres some dumb stuff on there to begin with. Investment losses maybe i can write some of those off this year for the first time. But someone totally poor isnt going to have a penny to invest, so they cant write off investment losses. Thats a good example of a particular lifestyle of the wealthy that someone else might not have to deal even with.

the amt has been passed over the last two years because congress did'nt want it to hit lower income people. it needs to be fixed but is still a good idea

Yes, it is a problem when wealthy people skip paying their taxes because they found a loop in the system to help them forgo pitching in to help the country. What these tax evaders think is that the system owes them something, meaning they couldn't care less that they use the roadways we all pay for, they live under the government which we all pay to keep in place. It’s all about greed; plain and simple, the more money these people have the greedier they become and the more loopholes they try to find to keep more of their easily earned money. Most of these 35,000 wealthy who don't pay taxes are not hard workers by any stretch of the imagination; they are keen in using others to do the hard work for them. I've dealt with enough wealthy folk to know these people don't care about anything but money and power. All this is quite sickening to be honest.

The other side of the problem isn't attributed to those who skip paying their
taxes, the other side of the problem is how our tax dollars are being spent.
One instance of fleecing we all can't really see is for instance night vision
optics for military and law enforcement. These devices are overpriced by as
much as 2000%, and guess who foots that bill? Yep, you got it right, us the
taxpayer who don't skip on making our contributions to the government. Up and down the ladder there are examples on how corporations and people are fleecing every single one of us taxpayers just because we aren't privy to the systems in place to sucker us out of our hard earned money. Its quite sad to see this happening, but oh well, there's no one with the balls around to stop all these shenanigans. Not yet at least.

"Wealthy people skip paying taxes"???? What about the 50% of Americans at the bottom who pay ZERO in income tax.... but that is OK? The rich pay more than their fair share and always have.

It is time all deductions for children, mortgage interest, etc etc etc are eliminated and ALL Americans pay 30% of their income in Federal Income Tax. Everyone pays the same no matter how much or how little you make. You don't penalize success and reward failure, and the current nanny state tax system that allows the bottom 50% of Americans to pay nothing must stop.

The bottom 50% don't pay anything because they don't even make enough to survive. The ones who enjoy to most benefits in our society should pay the most in income tax--that is why it is called a progressive tax system.

To do the opposite would be regressive and we all know which party that is.

Yep I am one of the 50% that pays no federal income tax I should pay 30% of the $1000 monthly income I receive from my social security that I receive monthly that I had paid into for fifty years while paying income tax back then. I assure you that half of the ones that Fox news says that pays no income tax is at least half of that 50% that pays no tax is the ones living on social security

@mrsmartypants
The article talks about those earning more than $200,000. That does not put these people in some very wealthy bracket. Not sure where you live, but outside DC that makes you comfortable, not hugely wealthy. Additionally, they are not tax evaders. They are following the tax laws.

@drdr. Staying school, getting an education or trade would change this. Drop out of high school,well do you really expect to earn a good income? Major in creative writing and expect to make it? People need to own up to making poor decisions.

Funny how there is no mention of the 15 MILLION illegals also paying no taxes, while simultaneously keeping American citizens unemployed.

Liberal drivel as usual.

@lulu98 see that there is the problem. Laws are put in place and made possible by heavy pushes from lobbyists to favor those 35,000 wealthy tax side-steppers. It may be completely lawfull to skip paying taxes, but is it morally correct? Oh yeah, I must forgotten, morals and greed just don't mix. I must be completely out of my mind to think of greedy people having any kind of moral value for the society in which we live. Not all wealthy are greedy and morally deficient, but I assure you, a very high percentage are.

All I am saying is everyone should pay their fair share, is that too hard to do when you're wealthy? Now if you're poor, then I can see how you can possibly live with yourself without paying for taxes, for if you barely have enough money to put a roof over your head or food in your tummy, how can taxes be the first expense out of your pocket book?

But today people think they are poor if thy cannot buy the 72 in tv. Or the kids that do not eat but buy the air Jordan's. And what is someone's fair share? I should bust my buns getting and education, work 12 hour days, save and invest and then give it to the guy who was too cool to do the same. I grew up not poor but pay check to pay check. Encouraged to do better. Now you want all of it.

What an irresponsible article?? They IMPLY there is something wrong here or this isn't "fair". But didn't they file their taxes lawfully and filed what the tax laws allow? Then they try to speculate WHY!! How irresponsible!! There are MANY reasons why they might not pay taxes. Maybe due to the financial and economic collapse they lost a lot of income in previous years. But many of these losses cannot be claimed in the year of the loss and must be "rolled over" to future years. So they might have a year where they are starting to recover, made $200,000, but have $300,000 in losses from previous years that rolled over. The irresponsible portion of the article is to claim they have "income" without explaining WHY they didn't pay any taxes.

The big problem is if you don't like the tax law then call your congress and tell your Senators and Representatives to CHANGE the tax law. DON'T blame the people FILING LEGAL TAX FILINGS!! BLAME YOUR SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES!! What an irresponsible and "wealth envy" article and is unfair.

Don't get sucked into this "hate the rich" attitude. The entrepreneurs are the ONLY ones that will fix this economy. Please be smart enough not to attack the VERY people we need to fix this terrible economy. Obviously the Obama administration can't fix the economy because the GOVERNMENT cannot fix the economy. We need the private market, businesses, and entrepreneurs so let's find out what THEY need to get this economy going and not have disdain for the very people we need to recover.

Pro business, but, but, but what would everyone cry about then? LOL!

From TheMrSmartyPants........

"Not all wealthy are greedy and morally deficient, but I assure you, a very high percentage are."

That's kind of like saying "not all people that live in government subsidized housing and collect food stamps are lazy spongers, but I assure you, a very high percentage are".

As I said previously - These people did exactly what the government asked people to do to stimulate the economy - they were then rewarded with tax credits - and now people want to slam them. They should be viewed as patriots. If I had enough money, I would have done the same thing.

I am sure there are far more than 35,000 people in that 50% who don't pay federal income taxes who get out of paying by underreporting their incomes through doing "cash" business and being paid under the table.

If not paying income tax makes you morally deficient then the bottom fifty percent are also morally deficient and greedy since they expect the rich to pay for the government and services that we enjoy. In fact, someone said the rich should pay more in taxes because they use the services more, which is a flat out lie. Wealthy people don't have to go to work every day so they don't use the streets every day. Wealthy people generally don't have to call the police or fire department as much. So tell me, how is it that wealthy people use more of the services that they pay for than say someone in the middle to lower income? This class warefare BS has got to stop!

These 35,000 are just the wealthy people who they have data on..there are way more wealthy people they don't know about.....(yet)!

Wish it really were just a party thing (you did note that the number of wealthy people paying no taxes has gone up under Obama, right?).

Want a really terrible example of just how corrupt things are? One of Obama's top money-bundlers, ex-Dem NJ Gov Corzine, ran MF Global, which took $1.6B from many thousands of deposits and transferred it to JP Morgan as they went BK. It was clearly illegal, but the Administration & Justice Department are doing nothing to get that money returned. I voted for Obama, but I don't like having my nose rubbed in their corruption!

"The number of wealthy people who paid no federal income taxes rose between 2007 and 2009, thanks in part to new tax credits, according to the report."

Sorry Ellie, but I think the Democrats had control of both the House and Senate in those years. Sounds like Nancy and Harry wanted to cut taxes on the wealthy as well.

They had to extent the tax cuts to the rich or the GOP wouldn't extend tax cuts to the dirt poor. Do you actually read the news or does someone spoon feed it to you? Good try Rob.

Sorry Rob, but those policies were implemented pre Dem Control. When we finally learn that a Rep is a Dem and a Dem is a Rep, when we finally understand why someone spends millions to be elected to a job that makes on thousands, we will understand that these loop holes are put in place for the people, easements if you will, for the millions politicians make personally by joining the ranks of elected officials. These cuts are not just available to the wealthy; they are available to anyone who takes the time to go to a town hall, city council, mayor, or govenors citizens meetings, or those who utlize the internet for the information it has to offer.

These are valid tax cuts for the citizen of the USA. Our problem is that after aquiring a High School and/or college education, we expect addl education to be given to us. Doesn't work that way in America folks. You can make 50K and not pay taxes or you can make 500K and not pay taxes.

@Wesley Mouch II: right on, I'm not voting for Romney either.

@HNL how do you blame Obama when it is the bush tax cuts Obama wasn't even in office in 2007. somehow i knew this would somehow get blamed on Obama.....always does regardless

readbetweenthelines....tax cuts to the dirt poor? The dirt poor pay no income tax. Who's being spoon fed? Good try yourself.

Lacey....policies can be changed. If the Dems couldn't do it in 2007-2008, surely they could in 2009-2010 when they had a cooperative president. Why didn't they repeal the Bush tax cuts then? They took political cover hoping the tax cuts would just expire without them having to take a stand.

Anyone else notice how you have so many right wing trolls on here making comment after comment on thread after thread day after day. How can anyone that lives in the real world have that much time to post online..... or are they really just shills and spinmasters paid by Faux News and their corporate handlers?

@joe. What a jerk.

$200,000 is not rich.

$200,000 is the minimum discussed.... and that's for one year. Nope, not rich, but maybe $500,000 per year - for 20/30 years - will make you rich. Maybe not in Romney or Buffett terms, but for most of us, it would.

@ Joe F - ya, these are paid trolls; after all, who has the money? Same bunch shouting liberal news media when it's been conservative news since Reagan (funded by Joe Coors - whose rallying cry was "there should only be the rich and the poor; the rich make all the decisions for the betterment of society"... 'course Joe was self-determined to fit in the rich category).

Oh, oil cos and their ilk get benefits way beyond "subsidies". I too would like to lease land for $1-2 dollars per acre, but somehow only the Exxons of the world get deals like that. Of course that's not a tax benefit and not mentioned.

The 50% who don't pay taxes - aside from the very poor - have one great advantage... lots of kids. And what group would that be???

lulu98

$200,000 is not rich.

Where I live - yes it is. It is almost 7 times more than the median income for my area.

Mike - It's not for my area. People making that much here are like people making $45,000 in other areas. The cost of living is that much higher.

My point was that $200K / yr is not some trivial salary that can be made everywhere as implied by the OP.

$200k in MD is not rich. The housing costs in certain parts of the state are huge. A Mr. Wants to be president O'Malley wants more and more from us.

$200,000 is not rich.

it puts one in the 97th percentile of earnings. So yes, by any definition, they are rich.

$200k in MD is not rich. The housing costs in certain parts of the state are huge. A Mr. Wants to be president O'Malley wants more and more from us.

One may not necessarily feel rich living in the Greater DC/Maryland area (I know, I live there too) cause you're surrounded by multi-million dollar mansions, but again, no matter where you live, if you're in the 97th percentile of income, you're rich (but probably not wealthy). Just imagine all the folks living in this area that make only $50k per year, or even less! Ask them if folks making $200k are rich and you'll get a far different answer than the one you're espousing.

Sure, maybe you're not as rich as someone making $200k and living in Texas, but that's only appearances. It's like the old Chris Rock line about rich vs. wealthy:

"Shaq is rich, the guy who signs his checks is wealthy!"

It is not appearances when the money left is not that great. I am happy to pay my share but what I resent is that so much of it is wasted or we really do not know where the money goes. Recently there was a discussion about more funding for schools. Let us use DC per capita spending go $18000 per student. That is a lot of money per classroom. But it never gets to the classroom. To much administrative overhead. More spending will not trickle down to the classroom unless significant changes are made.

dari, that 1-3% pay 50% of taxes but they also make most of the money. I do not have a problem with fixing the deductions and credits so that people do not get more in a "tax refund" than they paid.

That is just a redistribution of income and is poorly used by the recipients. If we are going to take the money, we could at least dole it out as programs not just as a free check.

You tell 'em, Goosestepper!

Protect those Zillionaires who have obviously convinced you that you'll be one of them one day....just as soon as that Trickle Down Effect kicks in.

It's only been about thirty years, so give it time. It'll be kicking in any year now.

Angie, did you see the story about the people that were getting refunds from the child credit..when they paid no taxes?!? That upsets me more than those that paid taxes and used deductions to get a refund. I can see how someone with 200K and a family of 4 could have enough deductions with medical, charitable, etc. to get a refund. But I don't think they could get back more than they paid in.

Bottom line, the tax code is a mess. But we knew that. :)

The world or our government does not owe anyone a living. i was taught that at a very young age by my hard working parents. There will always by the ones that have and the ones that have not. Been that way since time began and i suspect will always be that way. I strongly object to having my taxes pay for someone else to have a child credit paid out to them on their tax form. If a woman, or a couple cannot afford to have and raise their own children then do not have them. I object to people being able to reduce their taxes by claiming a college deduction because they paid interest. If you cannot afford to pay for college then go to a tech school but I shouldn't have to help pay for it. Just as I object to some people having to pay up to 50 and sometimes 55% of their income in total taxes between federal, state and county taxes. The biggest thing I object to is the out of control spending by the various government entities.

fly

But I don't think they could get back more than they paid in

Does GE ring a bell? I'm sure their are others too.

Stop spreading this nonsense. The people at the bottom don't have enough income to pay taxes--i.e. they're poor, retired, students, or unemployed. Yeah, they're just lucky as all get-out not having to pay taxes because they have no income. It's the lifestyle we should all seek out... What a crock.

Among the 50% who don't pay taxes include retired folks and disabled folks.

I don't agree with abolishing income taxes, but at least it's "fair" in the sense that nobody pays anything. Here, we get rich people paying very little and the middle class paying massive amounts. A middle class person will have trouble buying lots of things after tax.

Keep spewing that Ditto head garbage. If you make the minimum wage (less than, in Texas) you don't make enough money to pay FEDERAL TAXES, IF you are married and procreating. If you are SINGLE, no matter your income you are paying MORE than your fair share. If you are poor, lower middle-class, upper middle-class, you pay state and local taxes, FICA taxes, unemployment taxes, sales taxes, Private Property taxes. If you are the 1% you might pay FICA with your FIRST paycheck of the year, but after that it is all yours.

Among the 50% who don't pay taxes include retired folks and disabled folks

Careful - you'll confuse the lemmings with your pesky little facts.

The thing the people keep forgetting with all the "50% don't pay any taxes" rant is that people move in and out (if they are lucky) of different tax brackets.

My dad has worked very hard since he was 16 years old. Lost a job once on a Friday and was hard-working and lucky enough to have another by the following week. And yes, he pays no federal income taxes right now, in the last years of his life. But he paid higher taxes when he was single and working, and then married and in a double-income marriage; then his taxes went down a bit when he had small kids, and then up again when he and my mom were both working and had no dependents anymore (a span of decades!). So it's not the SAME 50% of people all the time; it all depends on where you are in the lifecycle if you are an average-wage earner.

Flying panda, I am with you, I do not want to see anyone get more money back than they paid into the system. I know people that think they hit the lotto in April with their tax return. They then waste that money and are not any better off than before.

That is another thing that needs to change. The child tax credit increased this tremendously and allowed many people to not pay taxes.

nevadaJ, if trickle down doesn't work why is obama pushing so hard for it? LOL, apparently the only trickle down you and others understand is what runs down your legs.

Spartan-501.... ROTFLMAO!

Here, we get rich people paying very little and the middle class paying massive amounts.

To bad IRS data is in direct opposition with the numbers you suggest. Would you say that the top 10% of taxpayers are not middle class or poor? If so, why does the IRS report that in 2009 the top 10% paid 70% of the income taxes collected? Still want to say the middle class pays the most income taxes?

http://www.ntu.org/tax-basics/who-pays-income-taxes.html

A middle class person will have trouble buying lots of things after tax.

Come again? We already learned what easy credit from the 90's on and what the housing bubble did for the economy. Do you really think that spending beyond ones means or keeping up with the jones is a good thing?

american-2051576

Spartan-501.... ROTFLMAO!

As a % of their income, wealthy pay less than middle class. Fact. Math is hard.

To bad IRS data is in direct opposition with the numbers you suggest. Would you say that the top 10% of taxpayers are not middle class or poor? If so, why does the IRS report that in 2009 the top 10% paid 70% of the income taxes collected? Still want to say the middle class pays the most income taxes?

Do you really not get this?

I don't care what part of the overall tax pie the wealthy paid, the point is they paid a much smaller percent of their income in taxes. Do you get that? 15% is less than 35%--15% is what the wealthy pay if they exercise deferred comp or get paid in stock options or any of the many other ways to avoid taxes, because they supposedly would stymy business growth. 35% is what the middle class pays on regular old income from like their paycheck.

In fact the idea that the wealthy that own, what percentage of the wealth now -- 90%? should mean they are paying 90% of the taxes. Do you get that?

It's up to the gov to decide what the actual monetary figure entails but the wealthy should be paying 90% of it as they own 90% of the wealth.

See how that works?

MJ, if someone gets payed in a stock option, it is true they deffer their taxes, but when they sell them, the initial value of the stocks when you were given the option will be taxed at the marginal rate of income, and only the PROFITS above that initial value will be taxed as Capital Gains. And that is ONLY if you hold the stock for more than 12 months after excercising your stock option. If you don't wait 12 months, all of the money including the profits is taxed at marginal income. So if you get a stock option with a value of $1000, and you sell it down the road for $2,500, the $1,000 is taxed as income, and the $1,500 profit is taxed as long term capital gains. Notice of course there is no guarentee the stock will go up in value, you could excercize your stock option and have it DECREASE in value. Therefore the stock option is an incentive to work hard as you are now have a stake in the company succeeding.

The taxes are defferred, but they are all paid at the time the stocks are sold.

So those wealthy who are paying 15% capital gains taxes on investments ALREADY paid income taxes on the money they invested in the first place. Ergo, they aren't paying less than anyone. You can take your money on out the bank and invest it for more than 12 months and pay only 15% maximum on the interest as well.

What middle class family is paying 35% income taxes? NONE. A married couple making a household gross income of $100,000, taking only the standard deduction (no child credits, no retirement, no other reportable assets or losses) will only reach a highest marginal rate of 25%, and have an effective rate of 14.09% total federal income taxes. Even tacking on SS and medicare taxes the total taxes due to the Federal government for the year at $100,000 in income would be 19.74%. So where is the 35% coming from? To even reach a Marginal rate of 35% a married couple would have to be earning $388,350, and would only be paying 35% on every dollar from $388,351 and up. That doesn't sound "middle class" to me.

hiap: Nice job!

Agree.

That 48% number is income tax. Payroll taxes are paid by all wage-earners. It is a convenient thing to gloss over payroll taxes when making a blanket statement that half of our country does not pay taxes. This is aside from sales taxes in various forms as you mention.

Who cares how much sales tax and social security and gas tax they pay. Those have designated purposes. They still pay absolutely nothing for government agencies that keep our food and air safe. They pay nothing toward all the national parks. They pay nothing for guarding our boarders from terrorists. They pay nothing to keep all the bank robbers and other federal criminals in jail.

The I pay taxes too argument just shows how clueless people are

Wait, our air and food is safe? The government still cares about national parks? They guard our borders? I didnt know this was going on!! Sarcasm...

I liked Herman Cains view...9,9,9. BUT, hes out of it. So Romney is the only choice we have left. Better than Obama, just gotta keep telling myself that.

Let's be fair here, the statistic is half of all HOUSEHOLDS, not half of all Americans. Last time I checked, not many children live in houses all by themselves.

Hmmm, as a conservative, I never considered that the blanket statement of 48-50% paid no taxes was referencing anything but income taxes. After all, who doesn't pay sales tax on personally consumed goods, property taxes (either directly or via rent) or for transportation in any form. However, I have seen many try and deflect by using this type of argument.

Sorry hugh, the IRS applies a tax liability on ALL earned income and employers are required to withhold a calculated amount based on wages paid and the exemptions claimed by the wage earner. Prior to april 15th of the following year that liability is resolved into the actual amount owed. Even the paper route kid is required to file.

The bottom line is that the tax laws have become virtually unmanageable and need reform to simplify them. Interesting on how you wish to assign blame on the right, while the right (aka house of representatives) has at least put some tax reform down on paper, passed it and sent it to the senate. Yet all obama and company have offered is rhetoric.

That 48% number is income tax. Payroll taxes are paid by all wage-earners. It is a convenient thing to gloss over payroll taxes when making a blanket statement that half of our country does not pay taxes

Well, not exactly. This is another item the rich get a pass on. For someone wealthy the thresholds disappear on these things pretty quickly. Instead of them kicking in above a certain point as they should in a true democracy(I know we are a republic) they faze out. Maybe that's right. Maybe it's wrong. But I think it belongs on another debate.

lol! oh yeah like that is ever going to happen. First too many of them are wealthy, second too many of them take money from corporations and the wealthy that benefit from these draconian laws.

I completely agree. A flat tax is the most fair solution.

Works for me.

But you'll have a hard time getting the right wing to agree to everyone being treated the same.

After all, they're American Royality.

I am just guessing here, but I am betting that under a flat tax, the amount you pay would go up considerably (the flat percentage, to be realistic, would be higher than your tax rate now). I say keep the progressive tax schedule but eliminate virtually all of the loopholes/deductions/credits.

NevadaJ-577866

Works for me.

But you'll have a hard time getting the right wing to agree to everyone being treated the same.

After all, they're American Royality.

What kind of biased statement is that? You think the conservatives are the only people whom you have to worry about with a flat tax? Every time Obama wants to spend more money he complains that the rich aren't paying their fair share and wants to increase their federal tax bracket. He will never actually state how much their fair share is, otherwise he wouldn't be able to go crying to you in a public speech and complain about them. So with a flat tax he won't be able to treat the rich like they have to single-handedly support the entire country's tax burden to let the poor get off scott free.

As far as loop holes are concerned, apparently giving money to charity (rather than the socialist government programs) doesn't matter. People will still complain that one doesn't do enough to support the new American way of paying into Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid so that single women with 5 kids by 5 different fathers or all the elderly, who didn't save money for retirement, will have financial aid care of everyone else. What the hell do you think people did before Roosevelt had this grand vision of a Ponzi scheme that we all pay into now called Social Security? People before SS actually had to pay for their own retirement and be responsible by not having 5 kids and no job. Oh the horror!!

As for Bart133's comment below, Republicans want social welfare and entitlement programs cut because they believe the GOV'T IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THOSE THINGS. And they are right. Charities and churches exist to help those less fortunate, not the government. It has only been a self-imposed responsibility of the government to provide that and all it has done is raise our taxes and given a greenlight to Washington to continue spending, not to mention it has made people expect handouts from the government at the cost of their fellow citizens with waste, fraud and abuse running rampant.

At least with charities and churches the waste, fraud and abuse would be minimized and possibly eliminated because the bureaucracy would disappear and there would actually be some transparency. If a person was abusing the system by living in a nice house but still asking for handouts, it would easily be discovered.

Republicans do care about everyone, which is why many rich people (many of which are conservative) will give to charity, BUT the difference is that they don't believe the government needs to be involved. It hasn't always been involved and people still survived. On the flip side, Democrats feel the gov't has to have their hands in everything and when a Republican disagrees the Democrat assumes that means the Republican is a mean, careless crotchety old man because they think the gov't being involved is THE answer and the only answer to everything. It is not.

We live in a welfare state because the Democrats made it that way. Democrats want us to feel helpless and make us believe that relying on a big nanny state is the only answer to making our lives better. It is not.

Bush didn't cause this recession. Clinton's belief in the right (it's a privilege) of every American to own a house caused this. Home prices shot up because of demand and then they plummeted because people bought houses they couldn't afford. And let's assume you are right, that Bush did cause this and that Obama is responsible for fixing it. He has yet to take responsibility for any failures suffered while fixing it but he sure is willing to blame someone else for causing it everytime he does something that he *thinks*will fix it. And you can't prove a negative by saying that w/o the stimulus plans we would be worse off; saying it doesn't make it true and you have no proof of it being true. But we do have proof they weren't the magic bullet they were supposed to be.

Obama had 2 years with a Democrat-controlled Congress to get bills passed to do things his way. He still controls one house in Congress. Why hasn't he fixed this problem yet? Oh that's right. Bush screwed up so bad that Obama can't fix it that fast. Whatever. Don't make excuses. You can't blame Republicans for Obama's lack of fixing the economy during his first 2 years in Office because they didn't have a majority in Congress. The way to fix this is not by the government spending money. Obama said in a speech a year or so ago that we have to spend money because that's what a stimulus is (and then the audience laughed)....no it's not. A stimulus is the *private* sector spending money with the government acting as referee, not the quarterback, by making the conditions just right so that businesses can hire people and expand without being penalized with regulations and taxes. Again, this goes back to the Republican's view that the government is *not* responsible for everything you, Bart133, think it is.

By the way, how do you feel about your tax dollars being spent with nothing to show for it? It was so bad that Obama's administration had to come up with a new metric called the "saved job" to show you that even though they didn't create any new jobs, they didn't cause any more to be lost. Again, that can't be proven but they definitely tracked that number anyway. And it's a good thing they did because otherwise there would be nothing good to come out of his ideas for saving the economy anyway.

Unemployment didn't go down, and for a while it continued going up, people are still losing their homes, living paycheck to paycheck, debt up to their eyeballs, <insert another cliche here>. Did Obama apologize for any of his screw ups? No, he simply said "I guess shovel-ready didn't really mean shovel-ready." [talking about his stimulus plan to spend money to pay for shovel-ready jobs]. That stimulus money was a limited amount and after it dried up did you really think those jobs would stick around? You are an idiot if you think they would. That's why businesses are supposed to pay for jobs because they can continue selling products and services to make money to pay for their employees.

You sir, need a lesson in capitalism and economics.

Brilliant . . . but, the conservatives will rush into law that millionaires are corporations, too . . . and voila . . . tax credits abound.

You will never win a fight with the greedy. When will you learn? They will always find a way 'cause they have the ability to buy and sell representatives & senators & presidents. You are a witness to the greatest selling of America, yet.

Pssst . . . . wanna buy a senator/rep/governor/president . . . deposit $5million into this account. Koch brothers? Are you listening?

so you think a person making 15,000 a year should pay the same rate as a person making 15,000,000

sounds good in theory but is a huge tax cut for the top end and the biggest tax increase on the middle class in history

sadmoronsvote2

I am just guessing here, but I am betting that under a flat tax, the amount you pay would go up considerably (the flat percentage, to be realistic, would be higher than your tax rate now)

I disagree. Your taxed rate would probably go down but you would lose your deductions and credits. I'll gladly pay a little more in taxes if Joe Millionaire is paying the same effective rate.

Bill in austin... How well you describe obama going out and lobbying the rich and famous for campaign money. I wonder how many deals he made with them by saying he would exempt them from paying their "fair share" if they supported him?

You sir, need a lesson in capitalism and economics.

I think most of us have had the lesson of capitalism and economics rammed down our throats until we're choking on it.

You sir, need a lesson in rigorous and critical thinking.

You are quite possibly right, Mike 416. I still maintain that a flat tax (not progressive) would decimate the working poor, though, and is a very bad idea.

BUT the difference is that they don't believe the government needs to be involved. It hasn't always been involved and people still survived.

This was written by someone above...survived???? So, the rich shouldn't give because the government shouldn't be involved in helping?? That is just sickening. Do you remember the institutions? Just the way that was worded shows how empathetic some people are to people with disabilities, etc. Orphanages were run by churches and they were some of the most abusive places ever. The government has to step in to prevent abuse...and I am wondering why I am even writing this because it is falling on lots of deaf ears. Such god loving people the republicans are...survived...ha! Good grief.

Bart, we never lived in a democracy. I am glad you are not a stooge for the republicans, maybe you should take the next step and not be a stooge for the democrats they are really no better. They have been running things in Illinois for some time now and they haven't exactly been a model of efficiency or responsibility or ethical.Just ask our state retirees. I don't live in California so I don't have first hand experience with their methods, but I do know this, they are almost all crooks no matter which party.

You are a stooge for Nancy, Harry, and Obama, who want to have the federal government take care of you from cradle to grave and do all your thinking for you. The only thing they can't figure out is how to pay for it, after they have drained the wealthy and the scheme collapses.

Very well said. problem is that tens of millions of Americans (mostly in red states where education is abysmal and people believe every word from their pastors mouth) are fooled into thinking that their hard work will pay off and they too can be as rich as Rush L. It's far easier to call someone a socialist than to actually understand socialism, which the vast majority of Fox watchers do not comprehend. Gov and politic surround complex issues, most american are simpletons (sheep), hence the GOP's ability to use fear and propaganda. Usually this ignorance is passed down form big Daddy, rather than thinking for ones self. Pathetic. While both sides LIE the GOP lies are big and bold. But to educated balanced citizens they are also often incomprehensible.

rob..in the meantime, pelosi just called for an extension on the tax cuts for the rich...poor Nancy, trying to hold onto her millions will living off the gvt. teat.

Rob Scan, you truly are the idiot in the village. No one in Gov wants to take care of your sorry ass from cradle to grave. That is propaganda, get a fricken clue. And please don't reproduce, america has enough problems. So maybe you agree with libertarian and want small gov, so do I, but don't regurgitate stupid comments that you just heard on Fox news. Sheep sheep

readbetweenthelines-1759809

Rob Scan, you truly are the idiot in the village. No one in Gov wants to take care of your sorry ass from cradle to grave. That is propaganda, get a fricken clue. And please don't reproduce, america has enough problems. So maybe you agree with libertarian and want small gov, so do I, but don't regurgitate stupid comments that you just heard on Fox news. Sheep sheep

Ah yes, calling someone an idiot means you don't have to even have your own argument and you automatically win! If I'm going to call someone an idiot I at least still make my case for why. The Obama administration definitely does want to take care of us from cradle to grave, that's the best way to have maximum control of us. Obamacare is one component of the plan, higher taxes is another, rising fuel prices is another and all the gov't programs you can think of to take care of your every desire, or at least your 8 kids if you are a single mom, because you know, that's everyone else's responsibility. Did I get my info from Fox News? No, I got my info from reading and watching other sources. Now, since I screwed up your canned response to tell me I'm an idiot and my info is completely wrong since I didn't get it from Fox News you may be caught off guard because you will have to actually think about why my and others' statements are wrong based on facts and not because of your inherent, left-wing desire to just call people idiots so you can *feel* like you don't have to debate the merits of an argument.

I don't watch Fox News, readbetweenthelines. I just watch what most of the liberals want. You seem like such a child with your name calling. Like the poster said, present a valid point, don't resort to the childish methods.

Rob Scan

I don't watch Fox News,

Because you say it - it must be true. $50 says you lie.

readbetweenthelines, how droll, the red states are uneducated and controlled by the church. If so i guess you also come from a red state.

BTW nice try on slipping in the democrats being at fault as well, but not like the republicans. LOL!

Mike 416 - bet you would lose that $50. One doesn't need any news source to understand the position of power that reid and obama have starting in 2009 or that pelosi had up until 2011, or how badly they applied that power.

----------------------------------

readbetweenthelines...

No one in Gov wants to take care of your sorry ass from cradle to grave.

Boy oh boy, don't you have your head buried where the sun don't shine. Every regulation written to enable enforcing passed laws by the states, congress and the potus is a means of controlling us from the cradle to the grave. The most obvious controllers are drivers licenses, income or sales taxes, FICA, EPA, etc.

Needless to say, except for your benefit, some regs are valid while many others are not because they are written in an attempt to cover all possibilities.

Prove that Romney committed fraud. Sick of people making accusations when they have no proof.

No, he is the one for a fair tax. Closing loopholes and subsidies is the correct thing to do, not raise honest hard working peoples rate.

He lives off Capital Gains and wants to eliminate them completely. Right now he pays 13.9% in taxes, under his plan he'd pay no taxes..

Never accuse Romney for not looking out for himself at the expense of all others.

That's the GOP's idea of fair.

Don, what he wants and what congress will give him are two different things. Just ask any POTUS.

@lvingbarefoot. So you will be willing not to have mortgage deductions, property tax deductions, child care credits, etc?

Great post carlos!

Carlos, look at it this way, 10 years ago Mitt Romney was worth a little over $100 million, one little tax break later (capital gains reduced from 35% to 15%) and his net worth climbs to $244 million. He didn't work any harder, he just benefited from one of the biggest tax give aways in history.

Take that and tact it on to all the other 1%ers over the last 10 years and what do you have, the total net worth of the entire country go from 20% to the 1% to 40%. Maybe one years of wealth won't pay off the deficit, but they've been robbing it for 10 years, and that amount would.

Don, I can look at it your way and I have but it still doesnt address the spending problem.

yes but don look at it this way ( over simplified)

you make 10 dollars and pay 20% tax on it. you now have 8 dollars. you invest those 8 dollars and turn a profit. lets say your 8 turned into 12. so you cash out you now have 12 dollars in your pocket and you now have to pay taxes on that money. so you pay lets say 10% taxes on it. you now have 10.80. so your 80 cents richer and the government made 3.20 cents off your 10 dollars in earned money.

There's still a middle class?

And there's lots of working middle class in Indiana that understand the politics of it all and continue to vote Republican to continue the success we have statewide.

Indiana is a beacon for statewide success? ROFL

With the exception of those 65 and up who are living on next to nothing, everyone should be paying taxes. The seniors have done their part, it's time the rest of us did ours.

But you're never going to see anything fair come out of congress as long as they're in the employ of those who pay for their campaigns (and give them high-paying jobs when they leave government). I wouldn't trust any senator or congressman, from either party, to devise a fair tax system. As soon as a proposal is made, wealthy interests will try to get themselves special treatment, and with our so-called representatives for sale to the highest bidder, those interests will get what they want and the rest of us will get screwed.

Its called a Corptocracy. We are unfortunately living in it.

And...what exactly is new about that? And...if the slackers control this countries government, media, and industry...who's going to go after them?

Great post Mike-2598123!!And don't forget America,who "WROTE" the Tax laws?? That's right, "YOUR"Congress and senate!!!

Most elderly who have only SS do not file tax returns. Only if they have other income in excess of $21,300 in addition to their SS if both are over 65; $10950 for an individual over 65 filing single

The percentage is based upon FILED TAX RETURNS.

The bottom 50% paid an average of 1.9% in income taxes according to the IRS data. I am a professional tax preparer.

http://taxfoundation.org/article/summary-latest-federal-individual-income-tax-data-0

That is because the bottom 50% are DIRT POOR. Thanks for posting a correct fact as most say that the bottom 50% pays zilch, which anyone with a brains knows is not true.

So you expect others to pay their share. Why is that? Everyone should pay something.

@lulu98,

because they have an INCOME... that's why it's called an "income tax". The very simple way to have the bottom 50% pay more income tax is to raise their income!!! Not export their jobs overseas and then demand that they pay more taxes on the income they no longer have...

The top 20% pay more than 2/3's of all Federal Tax Revenue including SS/Medicare according to the CBO.

Top 20%-68.7% of ALL Federal Tax Revenue

Top 10%-54.7%

Top 5%-43.8%

Top 1%-27.6% of ALL Federal Tax Revenue with an effective tax rate of 31.2%

In contrast, the bottom 60% pay 14.2% of all Federal Tax Revenue including SS/Medicare Taxes

The EFFECTIVE tax rate for the bottom 20% is 4.3%

Refundable tax credits actually narrow the total tax liability and tax share to nearly ZERO for the bottom 40% of tax payers

http://tinyurl.com/3jbvb2t

Larry your very much right and most house holds pay very little in taxes we made 91Kand paid 6.13% could have paid 5.7% most house holds that make 40-50K paid 3% income taxes.

Seriously, where do you pull these figures from. Being one of those that make 40-50K, I can guarantee you that I did not pay "3%" in taxes. I paid well over $6,000 in FEDERAL tax, and that was after my mortgage interest, property tax, charitable deductions. That's federal tax alone, not to mention state tax, social security, blah blah blah. If you think I paid "3%", can I get the name of your tax preparer?

In other words, 80% of Americans have an effective rate below 15%.

If you consider income tax liability alone, the average effective federal tax rate for people with incomes between $40,000 and $50,000, for instance, is just 3.2%, according to Tax Policy Center estimates. (In measuring income, the center uses gross income and adds to it other forms of compensation, such as the money your employer contributes to your retirement savings.)

The lowest income families actually have negative average effective tax rates when income tax liability alone is measured.

For families making $50,000 to $75,000, the effective tax rate is 5.7%. From $75,000 to $100,000, it's 7.2%. And if you make $200,000, it goes up to 9.9%.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/18/news/economy/Romney_effective_tax_rate/index.htm

I prepared my own taxes it is not hard to pay less in taxes. my cousin got 1% back from the government he paid 0% in federal taxes and still got a refund check. as I said we paid 6.13% on 91K and my brother on 28K paid 0% my brother in-law paid 3% on 70K.

How about 26 USC §1?

ask wesley snipes if you have to pay income tax. thats just a urban legend. the u.s. tax code is a law and is enforceable

it's in the constitution...The Sixteenth Amendment (Amendment XVI) to the United States Constitution allows the Congress to levy an income tax without apportioning it among the states or basing it on Census results

That is complete none-sense and you must know that.

No doubt. Americans should aspire to be more like those sitting at home watching Jerry Springer waiting for their Gov'ment check to arrive and voting for whoever promises them the most "free" handouts. (a.k.a Democrats)

Great you are another POD Person aka tea party nutter. Keep watching Fox and drinking your tea. Someday you will wake up and find out Koch Brothers are not your friends and Fox is incapable of telling the truth. You are going to need a lot of Motrim. Good luck!

Sandra, that seems a bit extreme

Data, please, Jim. Facts we can look at.

Ken - I paid 35% in income taxes last year, Romney paid 13.9%. Who's the moocher?

The system is rigged, you are just too stupid to notice.

Don and how many jobs did you give people over your whole business career? How many tax payer did you make and provide for. Please facts we can look at.

???

@don. The actual amount you paid? Why is it that people think the wealthy should just give it up? Dollar wise , they already support most of the waste in DC.

@readbetweenthe lines. If the poor do not pay income tax, how does one give them tax cuts? Sorry, but why should everyone else pay?

Don you paid 35%? how much do you make? 80% of America pays below 15% in federal taxes we paid 6.13% on 91K. Is that fair? Should I pay 4 or 2%?

If you consider income tax liability alone, the average effective federal tax rate for people with incomes between $40,000 and $50,000, for instance, is just 3.2%, according to Tax Policy Center estimates. (In measuring income, the center uses gross income and adds to it other forms of compensation, such as the money your employer contributes to your retirement savings.)

The lowest income families actually have negative average effective tax rates when income tax liability alone is measured.

For families making $50,000 to $75,000, the effective tax rate is 5.7%. From $75,000 to $100,000, it's 7.2%. And if you make $200,000, it goes up to 9.9%.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/18/news/economy/Romney_effective_tax_rate/index.htm

I am considered a liberal (not sure why - in the old days - pre tea party insanity I was a moderate republican) - in saying that I paid close to 18% and I support a family of 3 (plus rescue animals), make way under $100,000 and wonder why Mitt and friends pay way less percentage wise. Truthfully I don't mind paying tax - I know we have to have a government, schools and help those that can not help themselves. In saying that it makes me crazy when there is so much waste, so much corporate greed, major tax cuts for the wealthy that have not created jobs in this country (every country but us). Also why is the average CEO paid 4000 times the average worker?

Thank you Mary 526724...well said.

mary since you brought up mitts name, i was wondering if you knew how much he paid in taxes?

In history whenever their is unbalance in any aspect of human existence, we tend to seek balance or balance happens by force....keep this up and no amount of money will protect you because at the end of the day money is just paper and if I need to eat and I can't get it am going to take it from your stomach.

Lou - "In history whenever their is unbalance in any aspect of human existence, we tend to seek balance"

Really? So how much of your hard earned money are you giving to the 50% who pay no taxes... you know to help "balance" them with you?

Stop letting slimy politicians fool you into acting let a greedy, spoiled 2 year old. You don't deserve anything that you did not earn and you certainly aren't entitled to it... no matter how much a con-man tells you it somehow belongs to you because he wants you to give him power.

While you all quibble over THESE thieves, we have thousands (millions?) of illegal immigrants using their TIN number and the U.S. child tax credit to get thousands of dollars back in income tax,

Yes, the IRS sends them refund checks even when they are illegally in our country.

The criminals are taking our jobs. Not all illegals pick fruit. Why is there apathy towards this issue when it is bankrupting this country?

The defence is one of three things the government is susposed to do. it is all the government programs that are unconstitutional, and cost us all so much.

It says provide for defense. It doesn't say bankrupt the country with $1 trillion budgets. Military spending levels in this country are absurd.

Social programs, (even the ones we pay into) foreign aid, billions spent on research grants for things like "mating habits of crickets" and of course, people not paying taxes are breaking this country. Our government is borrowing $0.50 of every dollar spent on social security and medicare. If everyone pays a flat 5% before deductions there should be enough to fund the necessary things. We might as well get used to spending for our military or create an all home guard, that way we can ensure we will be fighting the next big war right in our front yard, that way we need not spend so much on transportation to the battle front. Will all that work for ya?