[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by BigV

Hey mercy--I know words can have multiple meanings, I'm sure that's where we are failing to connect on this point. "most" (most of what?) "more" (more than what?) "taxes" (federal, income, payroll, excise, etc, etc).

Here are three simple pictures I hope will illustrate my point.

As you can see,

In illustration #1, 46.4% of Households Will Pay No Federal Income Tax for 2011

But as you can see in Illustration #2, Nearly Two-Thirds of Households That Will Pay No Income Tax Will Pay Payroll Taxes

Illustration #3 shows (here's the money shot, if you'll pardon the pun) Who Will Pay Neither Income Nor Payroll Taxes?

Here's my math on this.

53.6% pay fed income tax
28.3% pay fed payroll tax
-------------------------
81.9% pay federal tax

81.9% of households pay federal tax. "Most" of "those" paying "most" of the "taxes" are paying most of the taxes. Or, you know, whatever. When we sit down for pie and coffee, I'll let you cut the pie, but I'm gonna pick my piece first.

I understand all that. The point remains that all those people who are paying the majority of Federal Income tax also Pay Payroll taxes. The point remains the majority of people do not pay Federal Income tax and I think everyone should pay through a system of flattening the tax system and elimination of many deductions. Start with the Mortgage deduction, that one alone would pull in a ton of money. Most people don't need it and it would have a minimal impact on the amount of tax they pay since it is not an increase in money you get back but an adjustment to your total income. The fact remains that a small minority of people pay ALL the Federal Income tax. People are not invested in this country when they don't pay into it.