Here are some statistics to put the nation’s income tax system in perspective:
► 143 million tax returns were filed with the IRS in 2010, some of which represent households and married couples.
► Only 85 million actually paid taxes out of the 143 million filers. In other words, 58 million, or 41%, were non-payers. 96% of these non-payers made less than $50,000.
► The IRS paid out $105 billion in refundable credits to filers who paid no income tax.
► The effective tax rate for those making less than $50,000 was 3.5%, and their share of taxes paid was 6.7%.
► The effective tax rate for those making more than $50,000 was 14.1%, and their share of taxes paid was 93.3%.
► The effective tax rate for those making more than $250,000 was 23.4%, and their share of taxes paid was 45.7%.
► The IRS estimates that it takes more than 7 billion hours to comply with the tax code each year.
► The tax code is now 3.8 million words long.
