Do you believe the bottom 50% of the population should be paying federal income tax?

If they have an income, they should pay income tax. I'm tired of having to bear the burden for those who don't want to bother. I struggle but I still have to pay taxes.

Exactly. If the rich have to pay their "fair share," then so should the bottom 50%. They tend to get everything handed to them and all they want is more. Look at those protesters.

I started out in the bottom 50% when I started my business, and looking back can honestly say that I really did not have to pay much until I reached a magic number. Then they take a huge chunk which drives your Net income back to where you started. My property taxes on my first home were about $1,000 a year. Now I live in a house that is worth double, but my taxes are 10 times higher. People who claim tax rates are low are the ones who pay little or nothing, and these are the people who think everyone else has more so they should just work for nothing. That is "fair" to them. Work 60 or 70 hours a week, and pony up because you are "selfish and greedy." They are flat out lying about tax rates based on a few examples.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/story/20...

The Left believes in subsidies rather than job creation. Want to raise wages? Increase taxes on businesses. That is actually what they believe? NY State has some of the lowest wages in the nation. How could that be when we have such Liberal government? They hand out pensions and health care for votes and could care less about "Fairness." Ask them to calculate the cost of that defined pension and they simply ignore it. Who cares that You have to work until you die so they can retire early? That is "fair."

You have been misled.

The 47% of Federal filers who "pay no Income tax" are NOT 'the bottom 50% of the population' at all...

About a quarter of them (12.5% of filers) earn too little (ie <$8,650) to pay, but the other three-quarters are made up of small businesses filing as "Sole proprietors" and retired Americans living on Bond income and/or Dividend income not subject to the Federal Income tax...

The VAST majority of "non-contributors" to the Income tax base are old farts & small businesses...and then there are a smattering of millionaires will cleverly-structured holdings...

No since the bottom 50% is made up of those who make under $20,000 a year (they still pay payroll taxes), the elderly, the unemployed and the disabled. These people still pay other taxes.

The unemployed should be working and those making 20,000 should have the opportunity to move up the pay scale, then they should pay income tax. The others shouldn't even factor into the "income" tax question, it's dishonest when it comes to the overall % of who should be paying and it misleads many people on the right.

You are a little mixed up. It is not the "bottom" 50% that don't pay income taxes. About 1400 people who earned over a million did not pay any income tax. They are included in that 50% along with millions of other people who made lots of money but paid no income taxes. Also someone who pays income tax but gets a refundable credit larger than the tax is counted in your 50%. He shouldn't be since he does pay income taxes. He would still get the credit even if he didn't pay taxes.

Of course. Liberals talk about the good old days of high taxation, but what they fail to acknowledge is that almost everyone paid. Just since 2000, the number of people paying no federal income tax has gone from 20% to 50%.

Bush tax cuts for the rich? Baloney!

No one should be paying income tax. As Ron Paul said, 50% is a good start.

Most of them do.

The 47 percent number is not wrong. The stimulus programs of the last two years — the first one signed by President George W. Bush, the second and larger one by President Obama — have increased the number of households that receive enough of a tax credit to wipe out their federal income tax liability.

But the modifiers here — federal and income — are important. Income taxes aren’t the only kind of federal taxes that people pay. There are also payroll taxes and investment taxes, among others. And, of course, people pay state and local taxes, too.

Even if the discussion is restricted to federal taxes (for which the statistics are better), a vast majority of households end up paying federal taxes. Congressional Budget Office data suggests that, at most, about 10 percent of all households pay no net federal taxes. The number 10 is obviously a lot smaller than 47.

Yes I do it should be we all pay a certain percentage or no bodies pays, I am in favor of no income tax, I also do not think that people should get back more than they pay in,.

Cleveland 10/12/11

After all of the deductions are made all remaining amounts ought yield some tax revenue,..!!

Whether(sp) it be minimum wages or whatever,..all clear earnings ought be taxed,.And,..yes

we ought pay our share,. Maybe,.the Gov't. should give more rebates to the needy,.Those that

needs add'l. monies,.? This be a good thing,.?!

Meanwhile,.there are many many citizens, that are quite contented with paying taxes from their minimum wages,.There are many many people that would show they have only minimal expen-

ses,..and, would not need rebates,.Aaanndd, the tax they pay,.good riddance,.good to be able to pay,..Their lives goes on,..And,.on,.Yeah,.?!!

Eliasis Yahwehei ( The Main Man )