The 53% ‘Con’
From fevered mindset that passes for ‘originality’, the right-wingnuts [a subsidiary of the plutocrats] have rolled out ‘53%’ as a counter to the ‘99%’ of the Occupy effort. That is the percentage of Americans who pay US Federal income tax.
I have already covered the shrinking significance of the income tax in the Federal budget:
Here are the sources of revenue for the US Federal budget for fiscal year 1999 [a balanced budget] and fiscal year 2010. It shows the percentage of the revenue based on the type of tax:
| Tax | % FY 1999 | % FY 2010 |
|---|---|---|
| Personal Income | 48.2 | 41.6 |
| FICA Payroll | 33.5 | 40.0 |
| Corporate Income | 10.1 | 8.8 |
| Excise | 3.8 | 3.1 |
| All Other | 4.4 | 6.5 |
Digby answers the question: Who are the 47%?
I would highlight one group of the ‘47%’, the US military. When you are in a combat zone you don’t pay income taxes, which is nice if you have a lot of rank, but is meaningless to the lower pay grades, as they don’t make enough money to pay income taxes.
A married E-4 [Corporal in the Army] with two kids, not only doesn’t make enough to ever pay income taxes, but meets the criteria for food stamps. The commissaries [military supermarkets] accept food stamps and WIC [a nutrition program for mothers and young children] checks, because that’s how much the Congress and Presidents ‘support the troops’.
2 comments
If the implication is that people who don’t pay income tax are too lazy to work, I might agree with them if they referred to upper-income folks who manage by one and another tax dodge to pay zero. Yes, those people might be lazy, and whether or not that is true, they are certainly non-contributors to the cost of the infrastructure they use. (I almost said “the air they breathe,” but they contribute plenty to the air by burning more fossil fuels than most of the rest of us who don’t own private jets.)
If they’re referring, as seems to be the case, to lower-income people, then they are not thinking about the full implications of not paying income tax. I haven’t owed any income tax in a couple of years, but damn, I paid plenty of ’em back when I could find work. I am unashamed of my membership in the 99% and the 47%. It wasn’t my choice to become a nonprofit…
My income taxes have been low to non-existent for some time, but it wasn’t my choice, and the FICA tax never stopped. The ‘investment advisors’ are always trying to get people into ‘tax-free’ investments – it is part of their holy writ to avoid paying taxes on anything. Hell, some have convinced their clients that taxes are applied to the principal of savings accounts or CDs, not just the interest.
It is the people who make the conscious decision to avoid taxes who are the real ‘moochers’ – they want a free ride.