Just a reminder that your 1040 is due today. Normally the joyous day of imperial compliance falls of the 15th of April. This year, as some, that date fell on the weekend. Thus, the magnanimous government gave you a few extra days to file. And, if you owe more than you’ve already paid, remember to pay that balance too.
Some don’t pay at all:
In tax year 2014, according to a report published by the Internal Revenue Service, the federal government hauled in a then-record $1,377,797,136,000 in individual income taxes.
Nonetheless, of the 148,606,578 individual income tax return filers that year, 52,062,499 filed what the IRS calls “nontaxable returns,” which means they paid no net individual income taxes.
Among these 52,062,499 filers who did not pay income taxes in 2014, according to Table 3.3 in the report, were 31,129,405 filers who also received $90,276,007,000 in payments from the federal government for “refundable” tax credits.
“In total, taxpayers claimed $105.6 billion in refundable tax credits,” said the IRS report. “Of this, $5.5 billion was applied against income taxes and $9.8 billion against all other taxes. The remaining $90.3 billion in refundable tax credits was refunded to taxpayers.”
“Tax credits are use to offset taxes,” the report explains. “Certain tax credits are also refundable in that if the credit exceeds the total tax owed, the excess can be refunded to the taxpayer.”
One example of a refundable tax credit is the “Earned Income Tax Credit.” “The Earned Income Tax Credit for 2014,” the IRS explains, “was a maximum of $496 for taxpayers with no qualifying children, $3,305 for one qualifying child, $5,460 for two qualifying children, and $6,143 for taxpayers with three or more qualifying children.”
For a married couple filing jointly to be eligible for the EIC in 2014, said the IRS, “earned income and adjusted gross income had to be less than $43,941 for one child, $49,186 for two children and $52,427 for three children or more.”
A married couple with two children earning $50,000 or more would not qualify for this refundable credit.
Thirty-five percent of workers pay no taxes at all. Add in those who could work, but don’t, and we have something approaching half the population paying nothing, no skin in the game. They still vote, however. Their votes cancel out those of the people who actually pay for the government.
All of this was envisioned back in 1913, when the income tax was federally instituted, and earlier when the communists plotted the downfall of the West. The plans are working seamlessly.
Oddly, the country somehow managed to exist and to grow, wildly, without any income taxes. In reality, as in history, it should be 100% paying no taxes.
If you can believe it, there was a time when only one was guaranteed. Sovereign Man.
But, here we are. Pay up!
