People earning $40,000/year don't pay taxes

[dragonfly]

Hastert: "If You Earn $40,000 a Year and Have a Family of Two Children, You Don't Pay Any Taxes"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecMpgYvKLng

[Beryl Octet]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Dragonfly @ Oct 25 2006, 04:34 PM) [snapback]338215[/snapback]</div>

Hastert: "If You Earn $40,000 a Year and Have a Family of Two Children, You Don't Pay Any Taxes"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecMpgYvKLng

No wonder we're in such a mess.
[/b]

I can't watch the video, but it does seem like an idiotic statement on the face of it. Maybe you don't pay federal income taxes if you meet those criteria, which I doubt, but seems like the only thing that could make his statement make sense.

[VinceDee]

He was talking about a person who makes $40,000 and has a spouse and two children. This is what someone responded with to show that someone making $40,000 with a spouse and two children really doesn't pay any taxes.

$40,000 - $10,300 Standard Deduction - $3,300*4 Personl Exemption = $16,500 Taxable income. 10% on the first $15,100 and 15% on the next $1,400 is $1,930. But, you get up to $2,000 in child tax credits, so the entire income tax bill is wiped out!
[/b]

I don't know how accurate these figures are so I can't say. I find it a bit hard to believe, but does anyone have a rebuttal to those figures?

Vince

[dragonfly]

So this really is true?

[dragonfly]

I double checked the figures at irs.gov. It is..... TRUE!
(Married, filed jointly)

[galaxee]

holy crap! we should have some kids then because we pay plenty of taxes...

[Marlin]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Dragonfly @ Oct 25 2006, 06:33 PM) [snapback]338299[/snapback]</div>

I double checked the figures at irs.gov. It is..... TRUE!
(Married, filed jointly)
[/b]

Oh my God! Maybe some of the other things that Republicans say are true!

[airportkid]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Dragonfly @ Oct 25 2006, 03:33 PM) [snapback]338299[/snapback]</div>

It is..... TRUE! [/b]

Don't forget state sales taxes, FICA, Medicare, possible state income taxes, federal excise taxes on a number of goods & services (telephone, tires, gasoline, etc.) and, if you own property, property taxes.
In recent decades various "proxy" taxes have also grown in the form of increased fines and penalties, and fees charged by assorted gov't agencies to process transactions that used to be paid out of the agencies' budgets. I just paid $10 to take care of a "fixit" ticket, for example - the $10 wasn't a fine, just a fee. So the true tax burden on a $40K income could approach 20%, having ducked only the federal income tax.

I make well over $40K/yr and am single with no kids, plus my house is paid for, so I get walloped when it comes to taxes: just over 50% of my annual income goes to some government agency in one form or another. With overall gov't expenditure at 25% GDP or whatever it is, someone isn't paying their fair share while I carry twice the normal share. That someone, however, is NOT the $40K family that is escaping only a federal income tax - that someone is a combination of the wealthy and corporations, whose share of the total tax intake has shrunk substantially in the last decades.

Mark Baird
Alameda CA

[dragonfly]

And wages as a percent of GDP is at an all-time low and on a downward slump.

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/08/...ages_chart.html

[Beryl Octet]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(airportkid @ Oct 25 2006, 11:12 PM) [snapback]338392[/snapback]</div>

Don't forget state sales taxes, FICA, Medicare, possible state income taxes, federal excise taxes on a number of goods & services (telephone, tires, gasoline, etc.) and, if you own property, property taxes.
In recent decades various "proxy" taxes have also grown in the form of increased fines and penalties, and fees charged by assorted gov't agencies to process transactions that used to be paid out of the agencies' budgets. I just paid $10 to take care of a "fixit" ticket, for example - the $10 wasn't a fine, just a fee. So the true tax burden on a $40K income could approach 20%, having ducked only the federal income tax.

I make well over $40K/yr and am single with no kids, plus my house is paid for, so I get walloped when it comes to taxes: just over 50% of my annual income goes to some government agency in one form or another. With overall gov't expenditure at 25% GDP or whatever it is, someone isn't paying their fair share while I carry twice the normal share. That someone, however, is NOT the $40K family that is escaping only a federal income tax - that someone is a combination of the wealthy and corporations, whose share of the total tax intake has shrunk substantially in the last decades.

Mark Baird
Alameda CA
[/b]

You beat me to it on this one. The state and county/city taxes seem to be compensating for any cuts in federal taxes. Not that I'm complaining, I've lived in places with lower taxes and lower services, and I'd much rather have roads, schools, parks, police force etc.