What is the 53%? Are they referring to the 47% who supposedly don't pay federal income tax?

I think so. I know it has something to do with taxes.

They say that if you make less than $50k you don't pay federal income tax. However I seem to have always paid federal taxes.

ummmmm i pay income tax. they need to get their facts straight.

I have to Google things? YOU'RE THE WORST BLOG EVER.


*flips table*

STOP THAT, DEEANN!

┬──┬ ノ(°□°ノ)

I definitely pay income taxes, and I don't even make half that.


Since I also have to pay taxes for my deadbeat mom, can my opinion count double?

STOP SHOWING OFF, BRIAN.

*flips something you probably can't make with your HTML skills, like a dragon or Boris Yeltsin*

It's not 50k.. you're making that up.

53% refers the 53% percentage of the United States Population that do in fact pay federal income taxes.

It's not a lie. It's a true percent. 47% of the population according to 2009 pay ZERO federal income tax.

But they do pay an average of 15& of their income in other federal taxes and state taxes on top of that.

I didn't make that up. Someone may have made that up but it was not me.

15%

i dont understand US politics

Here's my googlin' results:

The 53 percent say everyone should stop moaning, quit pointing fingers at Wall Street, and pay their damn taxes. (The name refers to the fact that only 53 percent of households pay federal income tax these days.) The brainchild of Erick Erickson of RedState.org, the 53 Tumblr features comments like: "I don’t blame Wall Street. Suck it up you whiners. I am the 53 percent subsidizing you so you can hang out on Wall Street and complain." (That’s from Erickson’s inaugural post, by the way.)

Rhetorical fervor aside, the 53 Percent campaign does raise an interesting question: What is going on with that other 47 percent? Why are so few people paying income taxes? For the answer to that question, we turn to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, which released a study on the subject this July. (The TPC also put out the initial report with the 53 percent number.)

The short answer is: deductions and poverty. About half of households within that 47 percent do not end up paying federal income tax because they qualify for enough breaks to cancel their tax obligations out. Of that group, 44 percent are claiming tax benefits for the elderly, like an exemption for Social Security payments. And 30.4 percent are claiming credits for "children and the working poor," like the child-care tax credit. The remainder get breaks for investment income, spending on education, itemized deductions, and a mish-mash of other things. When combined, it's all enough to cancel out their income tax requirements.

In short, it is not that they are not paying their taxes. It is that the country's tax structure lets them off the hook. Indeed, you can draw a straight line between the Bush tax cuts and the growing number of households exempted from income tax. For instance, the 2001 cuts, extended under the Obama administration, doubled the child tax credit from $500 to $1,000 and expanded eligibility for the Earned Income Tax Credit among married taxpayers. Additionally, the Bush tax cuts lowered income taxes in every bracket, making it easier for a household's liability to get fully offset by deductions and credits. And on top of all that, the stimulus bill introduced a host of further tax cuts.

That covers about half of the households that don't pay any federal taxes. The other half of households are just too poor to pay them. The Tax Policy Center provides a handy example: A couple with two children earning less than $26,400 per year pays no income tax if it takes standard deductions and common exemptions, for instance. "The basic structure of the income tax simply exempts subsistence levels of income from tax," TPC's Roberton Williams writes.

That pool of too-poor households has grown much bigger because of the recession and its aftermath: Average incomes have kept on declining even though the recession has officially ended, and millions of households have lost one or both of their wage-earners. Households are earning about 10 percent less than they did in 2007. About 12 percent of families live in poverty. That means a lot of folks simply aren't eligible for income tax.

So what of the claim that the 53 percent are subsidizing the 99 percent? Well, just because 47 percent of households do not pay federal income tax does not mean that they do not pay any federal taxes. Indeed, almost everyone pays some: There are federal taxes for Social Security and Medicare, on gas, alcohol, and cigarettes. Plus, there are also state and local taxes, and property taxes. You'd have to be freegan to escape paying any tax at all.

Also, Haragos, it's one thing to have a different opinion than me, but there's no reason to accuse me of things. It's offensive, frankly. I'm trying to have an open conversation about this, not reduce it to a shit slinging contest.

You said they said 50k. They didn't.. You were wrong.

You also said crazy shit about the London riots, and you were wrong. Misinformation happens.

What does belief in Jesus have to do with taxes?

I read it somewhere. I didn't pull the answer from out of the blue. Whether I'm wrong or not is immaterial to my request that you maintain some civility when you argue with people.

Are you unwilling to abide by that?

Jews don't pay taxes, Matt, YOU COMMUNIST.

I am a 53%. I take it up the ass becuase of irrational patriotism.

Its cause we are all accountants and lawyers, we can get out of it.

I BELIEVE IN THE POWER!

What about the diamond guys?

Belief in Jesus means you're a good guy.

Chipmnk on Oct 12 '11 at 10:45am
I BELIEVE IN THE POWER!


or...

Just the power.

Now you tell me to not mock the Wall Street Protesters because they don't take showers and yet your going to mock someone because they believe in a religion.

Interesting.

You didn't lie. You were just unmistakeably wrong.

Believing in a religion is fine. Believing that you're a more valuable citizen because of that is not.


And your is a possessive pronoun, not a contraction of "you are."

thank you for bringing up politics, now i have to tell how you how much I diss agree with you

I wish I was in the Jesus crew

I can't stop thinking about the Regular Show now.

Correcting spelling is valid to this discussion.

I am the 1% of the forum.

I'm not even sure who he is talking about anymore.

Can you answer one direct question? Just one? Are you willing to abide by my request to be civil? Yes or no?

If you are talking to me I'm not sure how you got out of my comment that I was mocking someone who believes in God. The fact is completely irrelevant, that's what I'm responding to. The idea that if you are a believing Christian you are somehow more entitled to being called an American. Now that deserves mocking.

It's so besides the point. Just like your complaints of the protesters' hygiene which first of all are unsubstantiated, you don't fucking know how often someone showers and it doesn't matter. You lack empathy. You think 'dirty people' are worth less than you, and you very clearly said that you think people must not respect themselves unless they take a daily shower.

It's obvious to me that what you see as someone disrespecting themselves is actually just a reflection of how little YOU respect THEM.

At any rate, the entire reason for this blog seems to have gotten completely lost. My whole point was about people putting down others taking a stand for what they believe in.

I've always been civil? Stop trying to paint me into a some type of villain figure. It's quite falsified.

Of a list of multiple different things.. Everyone who posted a negative comment upon it referenced his Christian belief. How is that not being biased toward someone with faith. The 53% is a counter point to the concept to the 99%.

Look at it this way... Not all of the 53% believe what these tumblrs people are saying. Just like not all 99% believe in what the 99% are saying.

If anything it shows us to not label ourselves in such terms... How can someone claim they signifty 53% or 99% of the population?

At any rate, the entire reason for this blog seems to have gotten completely lost. My whole point was about people putting down others taking a stand for what they believe in.

You're anti-Tea Party correct?

I like when he gloated about the London riots. That was fun.


I hope this ends with a good ol' trollface, too.

And everyone referenced his putting "I believe in Jesus" on there because WHY THE FUCK IS IT ONE THERE. It has nothing to do with taxes.

I'm anti fear-mongering, which I have gotten the distinct impression is the chief tactic they use to garner support. Note that I said "impression," by the way. To be fair, however, I am anti fear-mongering from any part of the political spectrum. The Tea Party just happens to be the one taking center stage at the moment.

I am anti- "make laws because I am emotional about things," too. Both of the major parties have been pretty awful about doing this.

Wow, I got worked up in that blog.

I actually don't have much of an opinion about the agenda behind the protests, to be honest. I wish people were more accountable and no one ever had to argue that the government should support our weakest people.

I wish we could trust that we could remove the government and know that families, communities, churches, what have you would take care of their sick, their injured, their elderly, their mentally ill or disabled populations. I don't have that much faith in humanity, though.

The government is so full of red tape and it's so bloated. The private sector is all about the bottom line and share holders. Neither of these systems are really very conducive, in my opinion, to making sure members of society don't fall through the cracks. I don't have that much faith in humanity, though.

That last line was moved and supposed to be deleted. Whatevs. I guess I hope we have plutonium leaked into the water supply and the happy byproduct of that is better evolved human beings. Pipe dreams.

Anti-fear mongering huh?

So...

THESE EVIL RICH BANKERS ARE STEALING ALL OF YOUR MONEY. YES WE GOT TO MARCH ON THEM BECAUSE THEY TOOK ALL OUR MONEY AND THEY DIDN'T EARN IT LIKE WE DID

You understand that is fear mongering as well. Creating a fear of a class of people who happen to have a vast sum of money.

But to you..

OWS = Not Fear Mongering
Tea Party = Fear Mongering

Why? Because your personal beliefs side with OWS. It seems biased to me.

@WarDrobeInSpareOom

I didn't care about the London Riots. In the sense, that I didn't care about the story behind it. I was mostly playing around with the European members due to their views on gun control.

You are making assumptions about me again, that are untrue.

That's not what Amy is saying, why can't you see that? All your arguments are just putting words in peoples' mouths then addressing those instead of what they're actuallt saying.