In 2019, 44% of U.S. households owed NO federal income taxes. In 2020, that number went up to 61%. That's 76 million households in 2019 and 107 million in 2020.
"But keep in mind: It was only temporary," wrote Howard Gleckman of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. The proportion will fall in the next two years, the TPC figures, to about 57% of households for 2021 and about 42% percent for 2022. Assuming the laws don't change, that is.
How'd it happen? Well, the millions who lost their jobs in the first months of the pandemic had steep drops in their employment income.
Then there were three rounds of stimulus checks, each structured as refundable tax credits. The stimulus checks "had the effect of significantly reducing tax liability in both 2020 and 2021 ... And the payments flipped some households from paying income tax to not doing so," Gleckman writes.
Not that those households went tax free. Heck, no. That's only the bazillionaires. Everyone else paid payroll taxes (Medicare, Social Security, etc.) and state taxes, not to mention sales tax and so forth.
About 21% of households paid neither federal income taxes nor payroll taxes last year -- but you wouldn't want to be in their shoes, because those households didn't bring in a lot of money either. Fortunately, they benefited from some of Biden's tax credits for low-income earners.
Go figure. Hey, go crazy with it!
https://thehill.com/policy/finance/568567-61-percent-of-households-owed-no-federal-income-taxes-last-year-analysis
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