47 percent of Americans aren't paying income taxes. Do you think they're not paying their fair share?

I see it as another cheap shot at the poor and working class. Shit rolls down hill so to speak. They feel uncomfortable blaming the rich as they have the power to retaliate, they don't want to blame the middle class as they are Americas backbone, but the poor, what value do they have?

So they blame them. The single working mom who paid her income taxes, sales tax, and every other tax presented to her, but then received a refund rather than paying when federal tax time rolled around because she earned so little and paid so much.. is so.. what's causing our deficit...yep. She must have been scheming with the man struggling to support a family of 5 on minimum wage, and we all know grama on her fixed income is the ring leader of this tax dodging conspiracy.My sarcasm dripping reply should indicate this, but I think it's a load of crap to say their not paying there fair share.

Perhaps we should be focusing on the billion dollar corporations using legal tax loop holes to pay so little.

The problem with the concentrated wealth is the money doesn't roll over enough that the Government gets it tax on each roll. Of course the wealthy will pay less taxes as the people who make these laws are the same wealthy ones who wish not to pay taxes. Lets not forget this Country was founded by England's tax cheats.

When the wealthy retain the money for investment there are only taxes paid on the earnings not the principle. Also as the unemployment rate rises there are many chances for tax withholding that is avoided and this will most effect Social Security. The reason here they are not paying taxes is because they already paid them.

No, I don't. The way the issue is framed can be highly political. Because when you say "47 percent of Americans aren't paying income taxes," there's this subtle connotation that they're supposed to be -- that they're lazy, or that they're cheats, or frauds, etc.It's a gut-level thing, but all connotations are.

And they're powerful. For instance, the only tax I owe is self-employment tax. But this is because my other wages are less than the standard deduction.

That's less than $5,700 a year, which is nothing. Should I have to pay a lot of tax on this?No. What I pay is fair, and that's fine.

There are probably many people in similar situations.

This is bullshit. We pay federal taxes on every ounce of gasoline we use, every drink of alcohol we take, everything we buy (federal taxes paid by employers are passed on to consumers) every telephone call we make, our internet connection, our electric bill, our insurance bill, and just about anything else we consume. Most of the extra "fees" we have on services are to make us pay part of the service provider's taxes.

Believe me, the federal government gets its pound of flesh out of everyone, whether we know it or not. Any fees or taxes a company pays is passed on to the consumer.