Maybe you could define rich and working class, stevie.
I know of few rich people that aren't or have not been the working class.
My beef is with your demographical 1/3 of americans that pay no taxes and them harp about the other 2/3 that got a tax break.
You better hope someone is getting rich to fund your welfare society because its getting to be a load.
--and yes Stevie thats correct 42.5 million pay no taxes.
Would appear from charts that the lower class has been getting breaks as more have slipped to non tax payor status--wonder if anyone has told them
http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/542.html
Table 1. Number of Tax Filers with Zero Tax Liability, 1950-2004
Year
Total Tax Returns Filed
Tax Returns with Zero Tax Liability
Percentage of Tax Returns with Zero Tax Liability
1950
53,060,098
14,873,416
28.0%
1951
55,447,009
12,798,399
23.1%
1952
56,528,817
12,652,544
22.4%
1953
57,838,184
12,615,033
21.8%
1954
56,747,008
14,113,948
24.9%
1955
58,250,188
13,561,123
23.3%
1956
59,197,004
12,938,358
21.9%
1957
59,825,121
12,959,806
21.7%
1958
59,085,182
13,433,048
22.7%
1959
60,271,297
12,774,384
21.2%
1960
61,027,931
12,966,946
21.2%
1961
61,499,420
12,916,655
21.0%
1962
62,712,386
12,620,023
20.1%
1963
63,943,236
12,620,015
19.7%
1964
65,375,601
14,069,263
21.5%
1965
67,596,300
13,895,506
20.6%
1966
70,160,425
13,451,349
19.2%
1967
71,651,909
12,978,971
18.1%
1968
73,728,708
12,440,000
16.9%
1969
75,834,388
12,112,994
16.0%
1970
74,279,831
14,962,460
20.1%
1971
74,576,407
14,660,035
19.7%
1972
77,572,720
16,703,713
21.5%
1973
80,692,587
16,425,425
20.4%
1974
83,340,190
16,005,423
19.2%
1975
82,229,332
20,738,595
25.2%
1976
84,670,389
20,249,022
23.9%
1977
86,634,640
22,253,502
25.7%
1978
89,771,551
21,083,246
23.5%
1979
92,964,302
20,999,319
22.6%
1980
93,902,469
19,996,225
21.3%
1981
95,396,123
18,671,399
19.6%
1982
95,337,432
18,302,132
19.2%
1983
96,321,310
18,304,987
19.0%
1984
99,438,708
17,799,199
17.9%
1985
101,660,287
18,813,867
18.5%
1986
103,045,170
19,077,757
18.5%
1987
106,996,270
20,272,474
18.9%
1988
109,708,280
22,572,948
20.6%
1989
112,135,673
22,957,318
20.5%
1990
113,717,138
23,854,704
21.0%
1991
114,730,123
25,996,536
22.7%
1992
113,604,503
26,872,557
23.7%
1993
114,601,819
28,166,452
24.6%
1994
115,943,131
28,323,685
24.4%
1995
118,218,327
28,965,338
24.5%
1996
120,351,208
29,421,858
24.4%
1997
122,421,991
28,950,791
23.6%
1998
124,770,662
31,722,764
25.4%
1999
127,075,145
32,529,065
25.6%
2000
129,373,500
32,555,897
25.2%
2001
130,255,237
35,491,707
27.2%
2002
130,076,443
39,112,547
30.1%
2003
130,571,319
41,467,439
31.8%
2004*
131,113,969
42,545,501
32.4%
* Estimated.
Source: IRS, Tax Foundation Individual Tax Model
In addition to these non-payers, roughly 15 million individuals