Jim DeMint Repeats the 'Half of Americans Pay No Federal Income Tax' Big Lie About Taxes
During Sean Hannity's special last week, featuring Republican propagandist and professional turd-polisher Frank Luntz, South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint joined the show and took questions from Luntz and audience members in one of his focus groups.
During this segment DeMint repeated what has become one of the right's big lies they like to tell on taxes, that half of Americans don't pay any federal income tax, as though that's the only tax anyone pays.
This reminded me of an article I recently read at AlterNet where Joshua Holland did a nice job debunking that talking point last year.
Fox and Drudge Sucker Tea Partiers with a Big Lie About Taxes:
Here’s how Fox Nation and the Drudge Report were fanning the flames of their readers’ simmering tribalism last week, courtesy of Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog:
Here are Drudge and Fox Nation right now:
Credit: No More Mister Nice BlogThose banner headlines led to an AP story that might make wingnut blood boil, but was in reality about a rather irrelevant bit of Tax Day trivia:
Tax Day is a dreaded deadline for millions, but for nearly half of U.S. households it’s simply somebody else’s problem.
About 47 percent will pay no federal income taxes at all for 2009. Either their incomes were too low, or they qualified for enough credits, deductions and exemptions to eliminate their liability….
Many people continue to labor under the false belief that the United States has a progressive tax system.
Here’s the reality: after decades of assault on the taxes that fall disproportionately on the wealthy, we now have an effective flat tax.
Poor people in this country pay around 40 percent of their incomes in taxes, give or take 5 percent.
Rich people in this country also pay around 40 percent of their incomes in taxes, give or take 5 percent.
And folks in between pay around 40 percent of their incomes in taxes, give or take 5 percent.
The idea that most working people don’t pay taxes — an incredibly popular talking-point on the right — is the product of a rather easy-to-understand Big Lie.
You simply pretend that the most progressive tax in the United States, the federal income tax, is the only tax that Americans pay. You move the goal-posts, beginning the discussion with a statement of fact — ‘many people pay no federal income taxes’ — and then shifting to an egregious falsehood: ‘many people pay no taxes.’ It’s a simple but incredibly effective lie of omission.
Here are the facts (as I lay ‘em out in my upcoming book, The Fifteen Biggest Lies About the Economy (And Everything Else the Right Doesn’t Want You to Know about Taxes, Jobs, and Corporate America)).
money that "comes in"
(I gotta go out and get all my money)
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
you are probably not in the top 1%.
a serious discussion about taxes, or a Ron Popeil infomercial selling the amazing Pocket Fisherman.
First they ignore us..then they ridicule us..now they are feeding us chicken crap- sign my petition:
http://www.change.org/petitions/fda-stop-feed...
www.ickenittlepost.com
One of the advantages of CiF is that in the comments section you get to see the shibboleths of reaction condensed, vocalised, lyricised, even screamed in block capitals and exclamation points. One of the talking points that always come up whenever you discuss public sector workers is "the taxpayer". The sovereign taxpayer. The over-burdened, pushed-beyond-the-point-of-reason taxpayer, to be precise. It goes roughly like this:
"You public sector workers always have your hand out. You get better pay than the rest of us, and you have generous gold-plated pensions. When anyone tries to take the slightest of your privileges away, you throw your toys out of the pram and go on strike. But I am not prepared to pay for your perky lifestyle any more. What we can't afford, you can't have. The taxpayer subsidises you to 100%, and the taxpayer isn't going to go on supporting your selfish, I'm-alright-jack lifestyles. A bit of hardship would do you lazy jobsworths some good. Market discipline. Let's see you and your red friends get by like the rest of us, uncoddled by the state and your friends in the meeja-hideen... (etc etc)."
"You think I'm exaggerating, don't you? Well, the point is how "the taxpayer" is invoked here as a relevant political category. You'll notice that, implicit in this is a suggestion that there are people who aren't taxpayers. But public sector workers pay taxes, not only on their income but on consumption. In fact, there is no one who doesn't pay taxes. The unemployed pay tax. Children pay tax. Prisoners pay tax. Even the homeless pay tax. To speak of "the taxpayer" is in this sense meaningless, since it includes everyone. And self-evidently, not everyone shares the political attitudes expressed by "the taxpayer" above. The question of what "the taxpayer" is willing to pay for is a political question, depending on who the taxpayer is, and what other social categories and classes s/he identifies as. But implicit in this is the idea that the taxpayer is supporting a public sector which is purely parasitic. Public sector workers are "subsidised" by "the taxpayer"; as if, in addition to not paying taxes, they add no value to the economy. "The taxpayer" is thus, by definition, always over-taxed (even if there are quite a few who are under-taxed). The subject-position expressed in this figure of "the taxpayer" is that of a lower middle class trader, shopkeeper or white van man, anxious to hold on to his wad and not pay for anything he isn't getting."
http://leninology.blogspot.com/2011/06/taxpay...
When I tell these arseholes that all tax money now goes to corporate welfare, and that public service - which use to be the reason for taxes - is being squeezed to the point of no return, as usual, the rightwing arseholes have no response.
"The super rich have just duped you into destroying your own class, so they can gorge at the tax payer trough through corporate welfare; and after 30 years, you still haven't figured it out!"
Liberals need to get an atitude. Tell these idiots how full of s*it they are to their faces. Throw down a $50 dollar bet (challenge) and watch them STFU!
These idiots and sociopathic losers have been spewing bulls*it for so long totally unchallenged, that they don't even bother to think about how absurd or stupid what they are saying is.
If I were a psychopath, I would join the republican party, and get in on the gravy train taking the Teabircher morons to the cleaners.
"that they don't even bother to think about how absurd or stupid what they are saying is " , and given the mental giants that their supporters are , why should they ? They know they can't sell their bull shit to anyone with an IQ over 50 .
"The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all."
The taxpayer they appeal to is noble, long-suffering, willing to sacrifice. Also ignorant, vindictive, and awash in self-pity. The poor non-taxpayer and public employee are parasites. You're either with us or agin us.
It's always about establishing an evil "other" to hate. Loonie liberals. Elitists. People who don't pay taxes. Public employees. Exploit the resentment and confusion of people by creating a contrived target to focus their hate on. It's a simple message: "You're good. You do your part. You're being exploited by these people. They're the reason things are screwed up. We understand. If we can just remove this evil from our midst, you will have it better."
Hey arsehole! How about some credible source for your outrageous lying claims, halfwit.
me-oww!
40% of a small income is a much more significant amount to the earner than 40% is to some mega wealthy assholes. Try it.
me-oww!
It's the opposite of their "across the board" tax cut scam. $200 tax cut for you, and a $200,000,000 tax cut for the GOP welfare syndicate.
And now in order for the state to plug the $200,000,000 hole in the budget, they are going to have to privatize some public sector operations; and now the idiot GOP base gets to pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars in fees for stuff that use to be free.
But they got a $200 tax cut!
If I were a psychopath, I would join the republican party, and get in on the gravy train taking the Teabircher morons to the cleaners.
NEVER lose sight of the FACT that Frank Luntz is a professional liar.
Never liked that turd, someone who manipulates the facts does nobody justice.
If he believes what he says than he shouldn't be afraid to tell it anywhere and to listen to the responses of those who do pay taxes. Give the speech to a hall full of cops who fear being laid off, in front of wounded soldiers who wonder how they are going to get their medical care, students whose parents have always paid taxes and are now watching their public college education become unaffordable. What a joke. I don't know anyone who pays no taxes. Even my daughter in college who eats because I buy her groceries paid $500 in taxes. This is an insult.
Jeanne
The article talks about "moving the goal posts" to "paying NO taxes" (from federal taxes). Once you dig down, why, yes, everyone is paying some kind of tax (state, local, sales, etc.). So isn't the headline about "not paying FEDERAL taxes" correct? I guess I'm missing something here. I'd like to post this on my FB page - just want to make sure I have my facts correct.
Those five year olds are all deadbeats. Jimbo wants to put them to work so they can carry their hare of the tax burden he is struggling under.
but it's part of their big lie about the fairness of our tax system. It was hard to explain that completely in a headline without making it a mile long.
if 40% of your income goes to taxes, then it doesn't really matter much if it went to federal income, state income, property or sales tax, does it? That's the point, that money is fungible.
When you're poorer, more of your income gets spent on sales tax, since more of your income (percentage-wise) gets spent on food, shelter and clothing.
Also, taxes like social security and medicare are only applied to "earned income" -- wages from work. Capital gains, interest, dividends, and the like are not subject to FICA.
It can be a little complicated. Possibly by design. Probably. Certainly.
So the point is that federal income tax isn't the only tax that Americans pay. For many Americans, Federal tax burdens are low, but other taxes more than make up for it. It seems like a quibble -- until you count the dollars in the bank and find they're gone. Then it doesn't matter so much where they went.
since FICA taxes are capped @ $150,000.00 and the rest, be it capital gains, interest, whatever is NOT touched its no wonder SS is going broke. these rich fat-cats have no need for the safety net that SS provides all they have to do is sell one of their many homes or yachts or corporate jets to insure that their “golden years” are provided for. I had a millionaire uncle how started drawing SS benefits, promise you he DIDN'T need the $500 an month it brought in, that was pocket change to him. Yet my wife, who has worked all her adult life and is now disabled due to the SElFISH actions of 1 man is denied her SSD benefits because ( and I swear this is what the letter said ) “ she is not disabled because she can follow instructions”. HUH????
I can understand St Ronnie's portrait on the rostrum behind the senator but what the frack is Margaret Thatcher's portrait doing there as well????
keep appealing it.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
I think people should be totally freaked out that such a large segment of the population is too poor to be eligible to pay income tax.
Then I think to myself, hey. A third of Americans are under 18.
Here's another one. Did you know that Americans spend more on dog food than they do on baby food? Are you outraged yet?
Could it be because dogs eat dog food all their life and babies only eat baby food for a short period of time?
Flim flam man is flim flamming.
In a nutshell that's it. People who don't even make a living wage need every cent they make just to survive. And since the bottom 50% make such a small percentage of total income, increasing their taxes will produce very little revenue.
The only people who don't pay taxes are corporations and the super rich.
Most government taxes are collected through payroll taxes, of which the trust fund rich pay none!
I love explaining this to right wing morons!
If I were a psychopath, I would join the republican party, and get in on the gravy train taking the Teabircher morons to the cleaners.
I couldn't find it on his page.
"Better." It's what we should ask of ourselves and of our leaders.
is from last year, so you're not going to find that on his front page now.
is meant to mislead people. First item is that you have to have income to pay taxes. Then you must note that it takes money to collect taxes. It doesn't make sense to spend more money to collect the tax than the amount of tax collected. It should also be noted that we are currently in a recession and collecting taxes from the poor reduces the money they have to spend which reduces consumption and causes further unemployment. Increasing taxes on the poor and middleclass is bad for the economy. Increasing taxes on the rich is actually good for the economy since they don't spend a majority of their income. They also don't use most of it to create businesses. Most of rich's money is either "dead" (no economical activity) or used for speculation. Speculation is not good for the economy since it is what drives the boom and bust cycles.
thank you for the explanation!
Like Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan are pretty close to financial collapse again just like in 07.
Banks are pretty much still overleveraged with a bunch a collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps that are worth nothing because there has been no real market corretion...
basically nothing has changed no one has gone to jail and there are no serious new "laws/regulation...and it's business as usual for the wall st banksters.
The too big too fail boys will be asking for more quantitative easing and more bailout money from taxpayers very soon!!! (because they are broke too!!!)
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
Like to be suckered.
Their existence depends on it.
Beer-i.e., God's Sweet Nectar- is a magic drink that makes you smarter, stronger, and more sexy.
-S. Colbert
You cannot bankrupt the country so long as we have fiat money. That's the one big positive in favor of fiat systems.
You can, however, cause the buying power of dollars to drop. We can wind up with $5 loaves of bread, and $10 gallons of milk.
they can sell them- coordinated unchallenged repetition from 1000 of the loudest megaphones in the country and no one gets in their face. there is NO organized challenge from the left for the right's most important weapon. no picketing. no shaming of local sponsors, and our universities endorse the racism, hate, and global warming denial by broadcasting their sports on them!
these lies only work because demint is eating from the daily talking points smorgasbord, riding the limbaugh bandwagon.
Regardless of who is telling the "truth" something about the wingnut position on taxes makes no sense to me.
They keep crying tax cut, tax cut, tax cut. Taxes are lowered and assuming their argument, half the people no longer pay taxes...then they bitch about THAT? Well who's damned fault would that be?
Just what is their goal? It's cognitive dissonance at it's worst.
It's things like this that prevent me from finding anything they say anymore relevant to rational thought.
They aren't even Conservatives anymore they're knee jerk reactionaries.
Excellent point!
but I think the real conservative beef is "the poor are getting a free ride", as if so many people want to be poor so they get the "free ride".
so it really comes down to the "wrong" people are paying "no taxes". It should not be the poor paying less apparently.
it is warped.
not all martyrs see divinity
The serfs must pay their penance.
And the morons that make up the Tea party will run around like the brainless parrots they are , repeating this nonsense as if it's a fact . LOL
"The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all."
Easy fix. Want more Americans to pay tax, then raise then minimum wage until they do. In fact demand that people on minimum wage pay three times as much tax, "Triple The Minimum Wage".
Get out there, protest and demand higher wages, declare your patriotic right to pay more tax. Screw the already rich, demand you chance to pay as much tax as they do, unionise bleed the billionaires, demand income and TAX redistribution.
Would someone tell Jim DeMint that 80% of Americans never served to protect their rights and freedoms. WE need an income tax to be paid the Vagina Corp to reduce the budget deficit. The tax should be larger on higher income Americans as they receive more benefit.
BTW tell Mr. Racist that this will disproportionally impacts the whites as African-Americans make up 19% of the military, but only 12% of the American population.
http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/indtaxstats/artic...
"Top 50% 69,980,290 7,352,111 1,003,639 87.25% 97.30% >$33,048 13.65%
Bottom 50% 69,980,290 1,074,514 27,873 12.75% 2.70% <$33,048 2.59%"
Source: Internal Revenue Service
the figures 97.3 percent and 2.7 represent "Group's Share of Income Taxes"
Whatever.
It is pretty obvious the Koch bros have bought them as well.
[sighs]
"It is pretty obvious the Koch bros have bought them as well."
The Koch brothers could, if they wanted to, but that's not really the case here. Instead, it's a natural fall-out of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. The rich as a whole do pay a greater share of federal income taxes, but it doesn't mean that they pay their fair share. To use a hypothetical tax rate, 10% of low incomes from a large number of poor people (many of whom probably don't make enough to pay taxes) doesn't add up to as much as 10% of high incomes from a small number of rich people.
we all know the fine senator meant half of American corporations. He just left out a word. Simple mistake....
He's an amoral, facile liar who is bereft of all integrity.
Unfortunately, it looks like he has the IRS on his side.
Wowsers your country is in deep shit when a large percentage of your voting population is that ignorant.
As a progressive, I am in favor of the working poor and families paying federal income taxes, even if it is $1. It's just the principal of the matter. We also do not tax the rich enough.
The indigenous lying American GOP douche bag! There is no cure but flames, hotter the better.
Here's the thing...
People, quite stupidly, look at the April 15 date as the point when we pay taxes. This simply isn't true. You're paying your taxes all year long. April 15 is more correctly a reconciliation day, when you do some math and determine if you paid the correct amount of taxes through the year. If you've done your planning correctly, you won't end-up owing. You might even get money back.
THIS, I think, is where the Republicans are getting this "Half of Americans Don't Pay Income Tax" baloney. It's a simple mis-direction. Half of Americans may not owe any more taxes on April 15, but they sure as hell have been paying taxes the rest of the year.
Using the idiot definition the R's are using, I've not "paid" income taxes for decades. However, I have sure as hell paid taxes. I just haven't owed anything on Reconciliation Day.
I just stop trying to talk to the idiots that listen to these fools. If you are watching fox no-news or listening to limpballs, hannity,beck or drudge, you are stupid! Sometimes you just can't save an idiot from himself, its too hard and usually yeilds no result.
what does that make your statement? The Bigger Lie?
"Folks, this is not your father's Republican Party."
Joe Biden
I had a discussion the other day on a local political blog. The title was how Ford was giving 100 million in bonuses to the top two execs and told the workers they should be happy just to have a job. So I relayed how back in the day the resort town I live in used to be busy in the summer with people from down-state coming up and enjoying a weekend here. I noticed how since they started shipping jobs to Communist China,( oh those commies don't count) that the tourists have dried up. Trying to state that just half that money in the hands of those workers would have more economic stimulus than either of those two could even dream of by themselves.
Of course the replies were that those lazy, incompetent factory workers don't deserve the HIGH pay the receive because they add no value to the product. I then asked him to order his next car UNASSEMBLED for the SAME price. I mean they add no value right? So it shouldn't have been a problem. Then it turned into a conversation about the amount of skill that it took to get the job done. Why can't someone be payed for the skill and the value? Either way they still couldn't see the difference between 100 million being in the hands of 2 people instead of 2 thousand or more. I fear we are being taken over by people that want to take us back to indentured servitude and almost slavery. It is disgusting.
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