Who Doesn’t Pay Federal Income Taxes (Legally) By BRUCE BARTLETT

By EmmaZahn on Mon, 09/17/2012 - 8:55pm |

According to the Tax Foundation, in 1974, before the earned-income tax credit was instituted, 19.2 percent of tax filers had no federal income tax liability. This rose to 25.2 percent in 1975 when the credit took effect.

During the 1990s, about 24 percent of filers had no income tax liability, but this number took a big jump during the George W. Bush administration as Republicans added a large child credit to the tax code. The percentage of filers with no income tax liability rose to 36.3 percent in 2008, from 25.2 percent in 2000.

According to new data from the Tax Policy Center, this year 46.4 percent of tax filers will have no federal income tax liability.

URL:

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/who-doesnt-pay-federal-income-taxes-legally/#more-116417