Breaking down the 47 percent

Marron highlights a previous blog post where he explains why almost half of Americans pay no federal income tax. The repost comes in light of a leaked video of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney commenting on the 47 percent.

By Donald Marron,?Guest blogger / September 19, 2012

In this Sept. 17, 2012 photo, Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks to reporters in Costa Mesa, Calif. Marron predicts that the number of Americans who don't pay federal income tax will decline as the economy recovers.

Charles Dharapak/AP

Enlarge

My most popular blog post, by a long shot, was this one in July 2011 explaining?why almost half of Americans paid no federal income tax. If you are interested in some context behind Governor Romney?s now famous remarks about the 47 percent (TPC calculated it as 46 percent for 2011), please check it out.

Skip to next paragraph Donald Marron

Donald B. Marron is director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. He previously served as a member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers and as acting director of the Congressional Budget Office.

Recent posts

' + google_ads[0].line2 + '
' + google_ads[0].line3 + '

'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "on"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // -->

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of
The Christian Science Monitor
Weekly Digital Edition

One item I?didn?t mention in that post is that?the number of taxpayers not paying federal income tax?should decline over time.?As the economy?recovers, higher incomes will boost the?fraction of households that pay?federal income tax.

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on dmarron.com.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/XXrfr5Etm30/Breaking-down-the-47-percent

duggars peter facinelli bobby rush supreme court justices 19 kids and counting danny o brien alicia silverstone