New Study On Taxes Shows Old Statistic That Will Be Misused Again

Whoa you guys, the AP discovered a COMPLETELY SECRET bit of evidence just before tax day to get you all hot and bothered! About 47% of people will pay no federal income tax this year, because they're all criminals! More or less like last year and the year before that, but maybe you didn't know! Why are these poor and middle-class families such cheats who "pay no taxes" while "we" have to make up the rest??

Man, which asshole wrote this lede? Because it's the sort of lede that an asshole motherfucker would write:

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

Well they still have to file, so "Tax Day" is annoying for them too. But if they don't pay any taxes, it's not that they are cackling about how rich they are while the actual rich are getting stuck with the bill and becoming poor/evil.

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

Most people still are required to file returns by the April 15 deadline. The penalty for skipping it is limited to the amount of taxes owed, but it's still almost always better to file: That's the only way to get a refund of all the income taxes withheld by employers.

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, according to a separate analysis by the consulting firm Deloitte Tax.

The way it should be, man!

The right -- and yes, the Heritage Foundation has its insightful quotes all over this -- love to take this data and claim, "half the country pays no taxes." They pay their payroll taxes, and state taxes, and local taxes, and mortgage payments ,and insurance premiums, and whatever else that other people CAN AFFORD WITH ALL OF THEIR MONEY. How much do people primarily earning from large capital gains pay in federal income tax, btw?

All that this statistic shows -- and yes, deductions and credits may be over the top at the moment, but it's a fucking great depression is why -- is how wide the wealth gap has become here, because 50% of the countryabsolutely needsmost every cent to maintain the basic consumption levels required to keep this economy propelling forward. Want to spread the tax base more broadly? Spread the wealth, baby!

If we could just find useful jobs for people to do instead of telling them to drain the equity from their homes every year, maybe some of these wacky wacky statistics would resolve themselves.

[ AP ]