Are You a Fifty-Three Percenter?
January 18, 2012 at 1:39 am in Featured Member, News by Steve Davies 36 Comments
By Connie Lanzisera
Taxes! Everyone pays them, right? Wrong. Forty-seven percent of Americans do not pay federal or state income taxes. In fact, a percentage of these non-taxpaying Americans actually receive a refund. How is it possible to receive a refund when no payment has been made in the first place? It is called the earned income credit. The earned income credit is the method by which the government gives back money it never received. The very definition of refund, according to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary, is repayment. Therefore, the government isn’t giving a refund; they are giving welfare in another form.
Yet these non-taxpaying individuals use our nation’s resources just like taxpaying Americans. These same individuals are still entitled to use federal and state roads and schools. These individuals are granted the same protections from our military. They are allowed to visit federally supported national parks, airports and post offices. Federally funded Pell Grants are also available to non-taxpaying individuals
The biggest insult of all, with this system, is these individuals are actually allowed to vote to increase my taxes. How is this possible? Well, in California, when the state wants to increase taxes, a ballot initiative is put on the ballot. All registered voters can vote. However, since you and I pay our taxes, we have a vested interest in the outcome of the vote. Not so for the 47% of individuals who do not pay taxes. They do not have a financial interest in the outcome. Therefore, why wouldn’t they vote to increase taxes? They won’t have a tax increase, as they do not pay taxes. Taxpaying Americans must shoulder the responsibility to pay all of America’s expenses. Forty-seven percent do not share in this responsibility.
The 53% of actual taxpayers must reject the inequality of a system that punishes taxpaying Americans. I resent a system that bestows voting privileges to one group of people at the monetary expense of another.
- I reject – that 47% of Americans do not pay federal or state income taxes.
- I reject – that I share the burden, with other taxpaying Americans, to pay taxes for the 47% of Americans who do not pay.
- I reject – that some of the 47% may get refunds.
- I reject – that in order to provide entitlements to some, I must pay a portion of the interest in order to borrow the money for these entitlements.
- I reject – that the 47% of Americans who do not pay federal and state income taxes are able to vote to increase mine.
In order to provide all Americans the same benefits of this exceptional country; all Americans must shoulder the responsibility.
Connie Lanzisera is the Local Coordinator of Tea Party of North Orange County in Brea, CA
That is quite the outrageous claim. Though it might be true considering recent events have forced many people in the upper brackets to fall into the brackets that are exempt from these taxes. The article does not mention who makes up that 47% which should include the elderly and children. Now we very well can’t ask children to pay income taxes even though they are American. This should piss more people off if in the next 5 years god willing in a better economy this still remains true
Children are not counted in the 47% that do not pay taxes. Many of the 47% have earnings with held but are then all returned plus more come April 15th.
I still pay income taxes and I received an earned income credit in 2010. So that is totally wrong information!!!
I think the point made in the article is that people who do not pay taxes are getting the refund. This point is true. I have people in my family who pay no taxes and received the “refund”. When I asked them why they get a refund when there were no taxes paid to begin with, they didn’t care about that, they were just glad to get some free money. I found this disturbing. Not only that it’s called a refund, but they qualified for it without even applying or earning money to begin with. Irresponsible socialist programs with no accountability on the part of the recipients or the government is part of the huge spending problem we have in this country.
Agreed, my husband and I own a small business,but we also have no children and are middle class. We got our very first refund for $900 last year after losing $26,000 from our business. We own a construction company and if we hadn’t had money put away over these last 3 years we would be gone. We have not made money over that last 3 years and still have to pay taxes because we take money out of the bank so that we can under bid the jobs so that we can keep our 5 remaining employees of 25 years working while we live off of our savings. Not everyone would do that, they would have quit 2 years ago and moved on to something else.Our savings account became our tax account a long time ago. Everything else go’s into IRA’s and taking money out of that to live off of gives us a profit for the year. I have been listening to politicans tell me for years that they are going to help the middle class, including Newt. I haven’t forgotten that the Republicans could have helped us in their 2 years of control and didn’t. I don’t think that we will ever be helped. : (
If we would listen to Ron Paul……
Stephanie… you just said, “I pay taxes and I received the earned income credit”. There is the proof in what this article is saying. The earned income credit gives a “refund” of MORE than the amount paid in, therefore, you ARE getting taxes “back” that you didn’t pay. Argue that one if you will!
Income tax is not the only kind of tax Americans pay.
What about states such as Washington that do not charge any resident income tax but DO charge a high sales tax? Every person in that state pays sales tax yet you consider them the freeloading 47%? Why?
What about Americans who have little or no income (children, the homeless, anyone unemployed, most retirees)?
The right to vote belongs to all American citizens not just those who earned enough money to pay income tax this year.
Be careful if you make sense, they’ll not post your comments.
My Children ran into this…They tried to get grants to go to school, but because I worked and had a house, they did not qualify. You had to be a minority who didn;t pay taxes.
I would love to find a bracket I could fall into. My Husband and I are retired and work small PT jos to make it and pay tabes over and above what we ever paid when in the work force. I get real angry when I hear about the Illegals and loafers who pay none and may even get money back…it is not right.
Ready to talk flat tax yet? I think it’s time you just made the perfect argument for why we need it. Make it a consumption based tax on everything no exemptions that way everyone pays the same amount and it’s based on what you use. The more you use the more you pay.
I like what you are describing and suggest that you look over http://www.fairtax.org for particulars of a national consumption tax approach that totally untaxes the poor, supercharges economic growth, and stops the corruption and class warfare rehtoric that we have suffered under since 1913 and the arrival of the 16th Amendment.
Simple, transparent, revenue neutral and most importantly we ALL pay as we go and are not penalized for making money, saving money or investing money. Care to contact me and refute or deny anything I have affirmed in this posting? Try 620-238-1378 if you need to sir. Until then please take care and May God Bless You!
I don’t believe that taxes are the biggest issue when it comes to the economy. It’s the way the government distributes the money it receives from taxes. Don’t get me wrong taxes are a big issue. I just think we as Americans need to tackle the biggest problems first and the way I see it the biggest problem is government spending.
The fedgov currently spends $3.8T per year. Of that, $3.3T goes to SS, Medicare, Medicaid, debt interest and the military. If you closed the fedgov entirely (no Congress, no FBI, no NASA, no FAA, etc.) the MANDATORY spending would still exceed tax receipts by $1T per year.
Changing SS retirement age won’t help immediately since today’s workforce contributions don’t support today’s retirees (for the first time in SS existence.)
Eliminating the tax holiday would at least let the fedgov break even on the mandatory spending.
My mother in law is a good example she is 84 years old I would say not a young chick…Her gross income for a is $24,000. she will pay approximately $4,800. in federal tax plus state tax…I don’t believe that her her retirement money should go to a lazy person that lays on the coach everyday or welfare stamps to someone that will sell them for illegal drugs..There is something wrong with the system…
All Americans must shoulder the responsibility? What about the tax loopholes from corporations? As well as, Romney only paying 15% while those that are struggling to feed their children are paying twice that of their income? So, strictly speaking taxes alone evaluated we all need to should the responsibility, no matter what other contributions that person makes. But, considering what other people contribute or can’t contribute then we need to help those that are struggling. Right? Shoulder the responsibility?
Nick, somehow I just do not believe that anyone paying taxes in the ‘twice as much’ bracket (which would be 30%) is struggling to feed their children. We gross over 100k a year and after deductions we just fall into the15% bracket but trust me, our kids want for nothing. And we voluntarily donate 10% to charity..is that ‘shouldering enough responsibility’ for you? I personally resent the government stealing from me to give to people that probably do not really appreciate the effort I put in earning it and merely expect their daily entitlement!
Let’s get it right Nick. The 15% you and Obama are talking about is AFTER the 35% from your income tax. It’s also a risk you take with that money. So the government gets 2 bites at the apple. And if you die another 55%. When is enough? Enough?
It’s only after the 35% if the corporate management is completely ignorant and takes no spending deductions and pays at the maximum rate, i.e. they are complete morons. Maybe some are, but most listen to competent counsel and pay far less than the maximum rate. GE, for instance, paid plenty of dividends and paid NO income taxes.
Where are you even getting these numbers? Are you including children or perhaps dead people in your ridiculous claims. Give me a break.
“Taxes! Everyone pays them, right? Wrong. Forty-seven percent of Americans do not pay federal or state”
Correct not everyone pays them especially Corporations and the wealthy. I noticed you excluded that in your article. Last time I read there was over a 3:1 ratio of Corporate Welfare to Public Welfare. Who subsidizes the lack of payment by these Corporations or the wealthy? You and I. More unemployment = less for the general public to pay into the system. Of course, you ignore this obvious fact, too. I suggest you read the Investigative Journalist works of David Cay Johnston. I will list them below. Johnston spent allot of time on these books. If you find anything erroneous in the books, please provide the information for me, and others that are interested, to follow up on? I would suggest your viewers going to the Taxpayers For Common Sense and Citizens For Tax Justice sites to get data on the Corporate Welfare Payouts.
Could you show me in the Constitution where an individual should be excluded from voting for not paying taxes? I would like you Tea Party people, since you are so aware of Constitutional Law, to inform the rest of us who are so unaware of it. For the record, I am taxpayer (“53%”) and have been for over 30 years so you plus others that except this rhetoric as the Gospel should not accuse me of being a “Free Loader”. I understand your concerns but you should really quit attacking the poor. I know of hard working poor people that get Earned Income Credit. One person I know walks to two jobs everyday. Some day you plus your supporters might even realize the larger picture of a fundamental system flaw.
Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense and Stick You With The Bill.
Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich—and Cheat Everybody Else.
Trust Me: The Government gets theirs regardless…I sold 14 homes @ Auction, I lost $20,000.00 but owe the IRS $10.000.00 in depreciation taxes the Government made me take over a 20 year period.Depreciation is the realestate tax break you get from the IRS each year if you own your home. No one said LIFE would be fair, but some common sense in our tax structure would sure go a long way…
This story is outrageous misinformation! 47%? Get real, the top 1% in this nation are by far the most egregious cheats when it comes to tax responsibility! And, you point your spineless greedy little finger at the poor? Not very Christian, are you?
Old Man
I am probably older than you and class warfare is very unbecoming.
Taxes have been an issue since humans formed governments. Who pays what is always an issue.
The first real fairness doctrine was established by Karl Marx in the Communist Manifesto in 1851.
Socialism is the backbone of equal and fair. Socialism does not work because; # 1; IT IS NOT A FAIR WORLD!! #2 People are not satisfied with being equal we always want more.
So the conundrum always exists that everybody wants what the haves have. The truth in life is you get what you earn.
So you see this argument is irrational and also stupid.
Besides if we got more revenue congress (especially the Democrats) would just spend it.
The current policy for a tax break for the poor is totally insane. They are giving a tax holiday to the poor so they do not have to pay payroll taxes. (Social Security).
The social security trust fund is already bankrupt and your friends in Washington with all this fairness crap are killing the future of America. Don’t you see they are robbing the Social Security trust fund to give a meaningless tax break to the so called Middle Class.?
The Dollar a gallon rise in gas prices has eaten up any meager tax break!!! Chew on that for a while. Have you noticed your food prices have gone up 30 35 % in the last two years. Taxing the rich sure as hell ain’t gonna’ fix that. So while Obama is stirring the tax pot the weak minded are losing sight of the real problems. So far he has invested about a trillion of your dollars into green projects that are all an ABJECT FAILURE. Who are the people that want all of this green crap? The very rich upper 1% in Hollywood who make way too much money for their own good. It is the very rich ECO lobbyist that buys the Democrats in congress to initiate this outrage. And like the very skillful shill artist he is Obama is stirring class warfare among the masses while all of the out and out corruption is going on before your very eyes. Remember Obama is a product of one of the most corrupt political machines in the world, “Chicago politics”. If you do not think this matters maybe you should take a closer look
The best plan is to overhaul the tax code. Make it simpler and we will save between 80-180 billion dollars. Make Government employees pay their tax bills another 800 million
Stop Medicare fraud another 90 to 120 billion dollars saved.
The Obama administration is playing on the ignorant and weak minded to muddy the real issues so they can make more revenue they can waste on socialist ideas that have proven to be a failure since roman times and simply do not work.
Singling out the richest people in America and making them pay, lets us say 75% would barely make dent in the National Debt. All of their income would be transferred offshore and all manufacturing would go foreign. We already see this happening with high cooperate taxes and the union greediness. The problem is the rich people are already paying too much.
If you cannot wrap your mind around the above comment then you need to expand your mind , make it a little bigger, get involved, get your head out of the sand and do not get hung up on Washington rhetoric .
The greatest problem in America is the apathy and indifference of the American public. The Liberal media has been poisoning the water for years
First communism and socialism are two different approaches. You jump from communism to socialism as if they are the same. Carl Marx’s belief, as I understand it, is simple, people donate into the their community and have the ability to draw from that pot as an equal, most importantly it is ran by all in that community. However this becomes the downfall of Carl Marx’s ideologies. Humanity’s or people’s greed upset any fairness in such a system. Socialism on the other hand deems that government (giving few the upper hand) should decide who gets what and when; far different than what Carl Marx imagined.
Secondly why we point out that a great share of the American people pay no tax, which I agree is unfair, we do not address the issue of the many loopholes that are out there for those in the business world. Lets be honest, as I have a small business and tax is a strategy. For what I as a business owner pay in taxes is what kind of borrowing power I will need as to stay competitive within my given markets. In theory and if I had no need to have borrowing power to keep my assests updated and productive, I could easily zero out any profit I make from year to year and pay absolutely nothing in taxes as well.
Thirdly, here in America we have deemed that people who invest in public/private companies should pay absolutely to tax on the dividends that they recieve, under the conception that this encourages people to invest. It may but it also makes it possible for those who have the means to invest to tip the advantage towards them, without the worry of being taxed. I am not saying that the original monies put into an investment should be taxed until the monies are drawn out. What I am saying is the profit off that original investment should be taxed.
A flat tax on earned income, dividend income and corporate tax should be equally proportioned. In this tax returns would become obsolete, government would shrink as the IRS as we know it would be gone.Corporations should not pay anymore on thier profit as do dividends (profits) or earned income (labor profits), but all three should pay equally. However I have not heard one individual that has been politically involved, that are in support of a flat tax ever want to tax dividend income or tax corporations equally to earned income. No what the elites propose is that a flat tax system that targets “earned income” would solve the tax problem.
Everybody in America is not impressed with the food, gas, healthcare costs rising. The left is pointing at the rich, the right is pointing at the “entitlement camp.” Corporate welfare is just as big of an issue as “entitlement welfare.” The Teaparty wants to go back to old conservative ideologies and the Wall Street movement wants to break capitalist’s backs. My take, greed shall always remain the behavior in charge and will someday (maybe soon) become the behavior that causes yet another world power to fall back into third world mediocrity. Until the American people insist on true equality in paying their fair share the playing field will remained tip one way or another.
Look at it this way. My family earned about $100k last year and paid 25% in federal taxes. My neighbor earned $10k last year and paid no federal income tax. So who paid his fair share of taxes? I did. Furthermore, my neighbor received federal money called a “refund”. Who payed for that? I did. So why am I obligated to pay my neighbors taxes? Is it because I work more hours? Is it because I have made better life decisions concerning education and work? He fails, I succeed therefor I pay his share? This is fair? I think not. He’s not entitled to my wealth simply because I’ve created wealth and he hasn’t. BTW, Romney’s 15% is on top of the 35% corporate tax. Also, corporations that pay little or less taxes due to “loopholes” is because congress utilizes tax law to as incentive’s for investment, investment in new technology, equipment, training, and jobs. Now go develop your own wealth and leave mine alone.
Couldnt have said it better myself!!!!
If you don’t vote ,you can’t complain…If you do vote,it’s your fault !
How do we solve all the problems?? READ THE CONSTITUTION.
NEXT: Don’t vote for the politician running for office.If the person running don’t line up completely with the constitution,refuse to vote.Now which of the following people running for office go by the constitution?
Mitt Rohmney
Rick Santerum
Newt Gingrich
Ron Paul
Actually, they got it right. Not all are like that but I do know several people that pay no income taxes and get the EIC, because they have children. And if you pay the 700 or whatever you use for an example, for a year and you file taxes, you get that back plus the EIC. So you don’t pay taxes. How hard is that to understand? We may get back 50-100 out of paying 7 or 8 thousand. Thats paying taxes people!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cgbJ-Fs1ikA
Let’s bring the number of Americans who don’t pay income taxes from 47% to 100%. The income tax is the most unjust form of taxation there is. It punishes productive people and is a form of slavery. This country prospered like no other country in the history of civilization where there were no income taxes. There will still be plenty of money for a limited, constitutional government without the income tax. Anyone who truly believes in freedom should oppose this unjust form of taxation.
I’m not vouching for who the 43% is but this has long since been true in regard to individuals receiving more from the IRS than what they paid in. I don’t see why people are shocked at this. View the EIC for yourself: http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=233839,00.html
I have personally worked with low income people (with children) through some outreach programs in the past who do receive several thousand dollars in a tax “refund” each year. In other words, they received far more in a tax refund from the IRS than they paid in federal tax if they paid any federal tax at all.
It’s just part of the current system.
wait, I am unemployed, but not drawing welfare aide, does that mean if I file for this tax year I could get a “refund” – how asinine. I know I got a “refund” for the year I was receiving unemployment, and even thought THAT was wrong. After all, I knew it was tax payers money I was receiving in the first place, so WHY should I get yet MORE money back?! I might file anyway, thanks!
———————
It is broken, someone needs to fix it.
its nice to see integrity still exists!!
Tax rates are what is important if you understand the math and when it comes to small business owners I have still searching for a single honest one of them that reports all their income for taxation and is truthful with regards to deductions. The affluent have the capability to pay a phenomenal financial advisory team like mine to reduce their tax rates within the guidelines of the internal revenue code to the lowest rates in US tax history as per the previous administration, continued by the existing one. it all balances out. I propose this… When I meet an honest business owner that reports all of their income and is compliant to the IRC I will cover the taxes of all US citizens by establishing a Chinese line of credit.
Excellent essay by Connie Lanzisera.