1. Mitt Romney is actually correct according to the
Tax Policy Center. Almost 47% of Americans don’t
pay any federal income taxes. But.......

2. When you combine who pays both federal income tax and
payroll taxes this number drops off significantly and only less
then 20% of Americans don’t pay any taxes then.

3. How do Payroll taxes work and how might they benefit the rich
more then anyone else?
-Payroll taxes (6.2% of an employees income)
are only applied to the first 110,000$ worth
of income so a person making one million
dollars annually is only getting taxed on 11%
of his income. (The remaining 89% of income
is essentially tax break as the millionaire no
longer has to pay into the payroll tax)
-Meanwhile a married couple with a
combined salary of 90,000$ is still subject to
paying all of thier income into the payroll tax.
-Payroll taxes are shown to be regressive by
nature as they fund social security yet
someone at that bottom 50% of income that
is lower middle class or the working poor
have much shorter life spans compared to
wealthier individuals and don’t live long after
65 years of age.
-A wealthy individual has potential to live
much longer and therefore collects social
security benefits for a longer period of time.

4. What about the rest of the population that does not pay federal
income tax then? 18% are still not paying it looks like, are they all
poor moochers like they way Romney described?
-Many of them are either
very young and in college
or elderly and retired.
-Age plays an important
role as you make the most
(and pay the most in
taxes) between the ages
of 25 to 60.

5. What exactly do we count as a tax credit
and deduction?
The remainder of why
some Americans don’t pay
federal income taxes is
also a combination
popular deductions and
credits written in our tax
code that help parents,
students, and the elderly.
(Most but not all seniors
are exempt from paying
taxes on their social
security benefits).

6. When taking into account federal, payroll, and
local taxes what does our tax code look like then?
-If you average
an Americans
total income to
total taxes paid
including payroll
and local our
tax code is
essentially flat.

7. -Whatever your
share of income
totals, is what
you will pay in
taxes. (This is
very much
similar to
previous graph)

8. For additional info or questions feel free to post in the
comments section. I made this blog to learn most of all so
even if you disagree with me feel free to challenge me as I
always appreciate the input and try my best to keep an open
mind.
www.econsoldier.com
Blake Altemara