Apr 8, 2010

Almost half US households pay no federal income tax

From an Associated Press report:

Tax Day is a dreaded deadline for millions of Americans, but for nearly half of U.S. households, it's simply somebody else's problem.


About 47% will pay no federal income taxes for 2009. Either their incomes were too low, or they qualified for enough credits, deductions and exemptions to eliminate their liability. That's according to projections by the Tax Policy Center, a Washington research organization.

Most who do not pay federal income taxes do pay other taxes, including federal payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare, and excise taxes on gasoline, aviation, alcohol and cigarettes.

Some of these also pay state or local sales, income and property taxes.

In recent years, credits for low- and middle-income families have grown so much that a family of four making as much as $50,000 will owe no federal income tax for 2009, as long as there are two children younger than 17.

As we file our federal income tax forms and include checks made out to the Internal Revenue Service, it’s going to be difficult to forget that 47% of filers will pay no federal income tax at all!

Link