Behind the Headlines Video
Our federal tax code is broken.
Forty-seven percent of Americans don't pay any federal income tax. Think about it. Nearly one-half of Americans don't have any federal income tax liability. 53% pay all personal income taxes.
Adding insult to injury is that with various refundable tax credits 30% of Americans who pay nothing actually get money from the federal government. For them, April 15th isn't Tax Day -- it's pay day.
Here's more bad news. According to IRS records, federal workers owe $3.4 billion in back taxes just for the year 2010.
26,000 Postal Service employees owe $270 million. 100 million by DOD military and civilians. Congressional employees owe $10 million. Treasury Dept workers - home of the IRS - owe $9 million. More than $800,000 is owed by President Obama's staff.
Federal workers who don't pay their taxes is as bad as cops who break the law, firemen who commit arson, and doctors who kill patients.
Making matters worse -- our tax code is too complicated. It's about 70,000 pages. And it costs billions in direct costs and lost productivity to figure out how much we owe.
Tax returns should be on a 3x5 card.
And everyone should pay something -- even if it were only one dollar.
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Additional Resources
American Tort Reform Association
Bankrupting America
Better Government Association
Center for Responsive Politics
Citizens Against Government Waste
