3 ms·

That CNBC article is unbelievably misleading. If you dig into the sources, it links to the actual report [0] where they state that 80% of households paid federa

by vngzs 5y ago

That CNBC article is unbelievably misleading. If you dig into the sources, it links to the actual report [0] where they state that 80% of households paid federal income or payroll taxes: > Remember, this reflects only those who pay no federal individual income tax. TPC estimates that while the number of households paying neither payroll nor income taxes also rose significantly, roughly 4 out of every 5 did pay one of these two taxes. The trick is that "income tax" is used as a technical term in the headline, while the colloquial use of it is quite different (average readers would probably consider their payroll tax to be "income tax"). [0]: https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/covid-19-pandemic-drove-huge-temporary-increase-households-did-not-pay-federal-income-tax?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=tpc_social https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/covid-19-pandemic-dro...

GhostVII 5y ago
I don't think that is really misleading, at least I wouldn't consider Medicare/social security as a part of my federal income tax. When I think of income tax I think of tax brackets and deductions, not payroll taxes which are deducted before I ever receive any income, and which I never really have to deal with. Based on the headline, I would have assumed that 57% of people had enough deductions/low enough income to be below the bottom income tax bracket. Which is correct, based on what you said.
vmception 5y ago
Even as a technical term, income has like 5 different meanings and contexts in the tax code, only sometimes distinguished by adjectives such as "ordinary", "adjusted gross", "modified adjusted gross", etc So its very easy to use this to your advantage and appeal to emotion, when convenient, or pass tougher tax laws that never affect you, which is even more convenient.

3 ms·

That CNBC article is unbelievably misleading. If you dig into the sources, it links to the actual report [0] where they state that 80% of households paid federa

by vngzs 5y ago

GhostVII 5y ago
I don't think that is really misleading, at least I wouldn't consider Medicare/social security as a part of my federal income tax. When I think of income tax I think of tax brackets and deductions, not payroll taxes which are deducted before I ever receive any income, and which I never really have to deal with. Based on the headline, I would have assumed that 57% of people had enough deductions/low enough income to be below the bottom income tax bracket. Which is correct, based on what you said.
vmception 5y ago
Even as a technical term, income has like 5 different meanings and contexts in the tax code, only sometimes distinguished by adjectives such as "ordinary", "adjusted gross", "modified adjusted gross", etc So its very easy to use this to your advantage and appeal to emotion, when convenient, or pass tougher tax laws that never affect you, which is even more convenient.