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Even if I do my vehicle gets me to work and at least contributes to me making money. If I sat at home with no vehicle and did nothing and made nothing, I'd pay some taxes (sales tax, fees, etc.) and wouldn't have car expenses.
It's not surprising at all- many people pay very little in taxes. Half of American adults pay no federal income taxes, and many of that half actually make money on paying taxes because of EIC and other "refundable credits." State income taxes are generally based on federal income taxation- so pay no federal, pay no state. The only federal income-type tax that historically affected most people was the Medicare and Social Security payroll taxes. Those were lowered significantly for lower-income people in the past couple years as part of the Obama stimulus. So, the only taxes that half of the country pays are sales taxes, excise taxes, and property taxes. A renter does not directly pay property taxes on anything besides a vehicle. Excise taxes are generally not counted as taxpayer-paid taxes because the manufacturer usually pays them and the tax is rolled into the purchase price. Thus the tax liability calculation pretty much is (vehicle property tax + sales taxes + a small amount for Medicare/Social Security) - federal income tax "extra refund." For many people that's a very small number, probably on the order of a thousand bucks or so per year. I'd bet that a good chunk of the population spends more on their cable TV and cell phone bills per year than they do taxes, let alone on their cars
It's not surprising at all- many people pay very little in taxes. Half of American adults pay no federal income taxes
I've been hearing this statistic for a while now but it's misleading since it implies that lots of working people pay no income tax. The actual statistics look more like this:
56% Employed (only 47% have full time jobs)
9% Unemployed
35% Not Looking for Work
As you can see the percentage of people not paying federal income tax tracks the percentage of unemployed/not looking for work number pretty closely. Duh, you don't pay income tax if you don't have any income. Not exactly a scathing indictment of the "welfare state" if you ask me.
Why don't we get this back on track and for those willing, they can offer how much they pay in transportation cost and how much they pay in taxes. This being an automotive forum and all lets make sure that what we say relates to that. I am getting on myself here as I also commented.
Right now I am slapping my hand hard for typing the earlier post.
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