51 Million Tax Returns Won't Pay Any Federal Income Tax

That's out of about 142 million that will be filed this year. That means that 36% of all personal federal income tax returns won't be contributing to the cost of federal programs via the income tax.

And just to be clear, I'm not saying they won't pay any additional tax, I'm saying they won't pay any tax at all. In fact, thanks to various refundable credits some will collect money they never paid in.

This is just plain wrong.

I've always been in favor of some sort of minimum income tax level for everyone that files a federal tax return. Even if it's only 1% or 2%, there should be some contribution on everyone's part. There are benefits that everyone in this country have that are paid for by those taxes, such as the military that keeps us safe, and therefore everyone should take part in paying that bill.

The system we have now leaves the entire federal income tax burden to only 64% of the income earners and that number is decreasing all the time thanks to various federal entitlements and giveaways. We can't sustain a system like that.

However, woe be it to the politician that suggests a change like that. The minority that doesn't pay taxes has grown so large they now pose an electoral threat to politicians...and the country.

UPDATE: It's worse than I thought. I saw this a few minutes after I wrote the piece above:

Tax Day is a dreaded deadline for millions, but for nearly half of U.S. households it's simply somebody else's problem.

About 47 percent will pay no federal income taxes at all for 2009. Either their incomes were too low, or they qualified for enough credits, deductions and exemptions to eliminate their liability. That's according to projections by the Tax Policy Center, a Washington research organization.