October 26, 2008
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Columnists Cites Tax Foundation's "Nonpayers" Study
"This Spread is Too Thin to Cover Costs"
By Jim Wooten
The conservative-leaning Tax Foundation, meanwhile, found that in 2005, only 90.6 million of the 134.4 million Americans who filed income tax returns paid anything at all to support the burden of government. Some 44 million, therefore, either paid nothing or got a gift back. That's 32.6 percent of those who filed. At the end of Ronald Reagan's second term in 1988, that percentage was 20.6. The top 50 percent of taxpayers, who provide 97 percent of the revenue from individual income taxes, cover both the cost of government and the checks sent to those who get more back than they pay in.
