Carp Diem (Mark Perry): 62 Million "Taxpayers" Will Pay NO Tax in 2008
On the day after Tax Day, Mark Perry points us to this graph:
Perry writes:
The JCT staff estimates that approximately 62 million "taxpayers," or 37% of the 170 million taxpayers, will have no tax liability in 2008 and generally have a marginal tax rate of zero.
Q: Are you still a "taxpayer" if you don't pay taxes?
Interesting question.
Sure you’re still a taxpayer, for one thing your chart ignores the social security and medicare taxes, which are the largest income taxes for many, maybe most, people (especially if you count the employers “contribution”). From a legal standpoint, many people are going to get tax rebates even though they paid no taxes, so, in the logic of Washington, they must be taxpayers.
I didn’t make enough money in 2007 to pay income tax, so the federal and state income taxes taken out o my paychecks will become my rebate. So, I wasn’t an income taxpayer. Of course, I paid much more in Social Security taxes anyway…
But remember, social security is not a “tax.” It is your “contribution” to your retirement assitance. 🙂
Seriously, though, I think within context it is clear Perry is talking rhetorically about federal income taxes. If one pays no federal income taxes is he or she a federal taxpayer?
Saying these people will pay no tax is misleading. While they may pay no income tax, I expect many of them will pay such things as sales tax and “hidden” taxes like corporate taxes which are inevitably built into the price of goods.
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