It’s a Lie That Working Poor Don’t Pay Taxes

[raccoon]

Published on Wednesday, September 28, 2011 by The Capital Times (Wisconsin)

It’s a Lie That Working Poor Don’t Pay Taxes

by Dave Zweifel

In this age of afflicting the poor and comforting the rich — a favorite pastime of the tea partiers and the new Republican Party they’ve helped shape — there’s a popular myth making the rounds on the Internet that nearly half of working Americans don’t pay taxes, and isn’t that an outrage?...

But the truth is that every working American pays taxes. Before they even get a chance to cash their paychecks, 6.2 percent has been deducted for Social Security and another 1.45 percent for Medicare. (This year the Social Security payroll tax for everyone has been temporarily lowered to 4.2 percent as part of President Obama’s stimulus program.)

In other words, they’re contributing just as big a percentage of their income to the two major federal budget programs as do the CEOs of major corporations. In fact, because people don’t pay Social Security taxes on income over $106,800, the poor actually pay a higher percentage than the wealthy.
Everyone also pays sales taxes, property taxes if they own property or indirectly if they rent, gasoline taxes to build those roads Bachmann thinks they’re driving on for free, and fees to visit national parks and license their cars, just for starters...

It’s well past time for those who can afford it and who have benefited the most from government’s many services to pitch in and help right the ship — at the very least, end the Bush tax cuts and help restore some fiscal responsibility to the nation’s budget.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/09/28-10

[jtown1123]

1. They also pay state and local taxes. That lie is a real doozy. Too bad it keeps getting repeated.

[madinmaryland]

8. Don't forget sales taxes, excise taxes, etc. Those are the most regressive taxes

of all.

[dkf]

2. So social security is simply a tax? It's not something we pay in to?

The characterization of social security is very convenient.

[elocs]

5. Even the Social Security Administration calls it a tax rate:

http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/240

2011 Social Security tax rate and maximum taxable earnings

What is the Social Security tax rate and what is the maximum taxable earnings amount for Social Security in 2011?
Employee/Employer

For 2011, the maximum taxable earnings amount for Social Security is $106,800. The Social Security tax (OASDI) rate for wages paid in 2011 is 4.2 percent for employees and 6.2 percent for employers. For example, an individual with wages equal to or more than $106,800 would contribute $4,485.60 to Social Security in 2011. The employer would contribute $6,621.60.

[dkf]

9. Then it's a tax like any other with no future expectations.

And certainly no retirement fund.

[RaleighNCDUer]

10. NOBODY EVER CLAIMED IT WAS A RETIREMENT FUND.

You keep coming up with that LIE.

It is INSURANCE. You pay in. You collect. Some collect more than they pay. Others pay more than they collect. The way ANY insurance program works.

And there IS an expectation - everybody who pays in has an expectation of collecting, as the TAX is targeted to that specific program.

You really need to stop getting your SS talking points from Rush.

[elocs]

11. OASDI: Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program.

It's insurance, not a retirement fund. I thought this was common knowledge.

[reformist2]

3. It's an odd argument for Repubs to make - Do they want to go on record calling for tax increases???

Imagine in a debate Obama getting Perry to say that half of all voters ought to be paying more in taxes. LOL!

Their hatred of the poor is going to cause them to shoot themselves in the foot.

[Gormy Cuss]

4. It is however the truth that they don't pay Federal income taxes

and the reason is that they don't make enough money.

The solution is simple: raise the wages of the lower income workers until they can afford to throw a few bucks into the income tax pool.

[DearHeart]

6. I made less than $20K for several years and have ALWAYS

paid federal income tax. The working poor don't pay taxes line is absolute BULLSHIT!!:grr: :banghead:

[RaleighNCDUer]

12. That lie is predicated on certain assumptions -

that EVERYBODY will get child care credits (or other such credits) that will wipe out their tax liability. Of course, everybody is entitled to those credits IF they have children. No kid, no credit. I have NEVER not paid taxes, even back in my student days when my income was well under 10k - often under 5k. I had no deductions and credits to balance the meager tax I was obliged to pay.

And, even if you DO get 100% of the automatic deductions from your pay returned at the end of the year, the government STILL had that money as an effective interest-free loan from the moment it was deducted from your pay. That accounts for BILLIONS of the federal operating budget every year.

[firehorse]

7. The self employed pay even more taxes - and they don't get unemployement, they pay double social

security amount and they pay a self employment tax.

I am self employed and I pay way more in taxes than I ever did when I worked for a company. And to be self employed I work twice as hard and take home much less.

The rewards are no boss, the cons: pay more taxes take home less money.