Who pays taxes?

This comes from the folks at AFP:

The Presidential campaign has presented an issue worthy of wide discussion. Who pays taxes? And when tax cuts are promised to 95% of Americans, what does that mean?

In the last analysis of income taxes paid to the U.S. Treasury (in 2006), taxpayers whose earnings were in the lower 50% paid only 3% of our total tax burden. That means most of these taxpayers paid almost nothing. The next lowest, earning, 25% paid only 11% of the total tax burden. Collectively, this means the lowest 75% of earners paid only 14% of the current income taxes collected in this country. Since 75% of Americans are already paying little or no taxes, how do you cut taxes for 95% of Americans?

The author of a piece in Townhall posed some simple questions: With over 50% of the voters paying almost nothing, what is to stop them from voting even more confiscatory tax rates upon the others who are paying? When giving money out to an ever-larger share of the taxpayer population, what stops them from voting a greater payment to themselves?

Taxpayers who are “pulling the wagon” need to weigh in. Read about it here -

http://townhall.com/Columnists/BruceBialosky/2008/09/12/the_95_solution