36.3% of American Tax Filers “Lucky Duckies” in 2008

The IRS has released a new Statistics of Income Bulletin with the first numbers on the tax season.

, I noted that the percentage of people who filed returns that indicated that they paid no federal income tax had dropped slightly, to 32.4%. A revised figure brings that back up to 32.6% which is typical for recent years. But for tax year , the percentage has jumped to 36.3%:

Tax YearNumber of Zero-Tax FilersZero-Tax Filers as a Percent of All Filers
42,500,00032.6%
43,800,00032.6%
45,700,00033.0%
46,600,00032.6%
51,600,00036.3%

(These numbers only represent tax filers who owed no federal income tax for the years in question; it does not include other taxes. In tax year , some people who ordinarily would not have filed a tax return — for instance because they didn’t have any income to report — filed anyway in order to claim their stimulus payment. Those people aren’t included in the totals above.)

this percentage hovered in the 18–25% range. Then it climbed to this 32–33% plateau during the Dubya years. This new 36.3% figure represents a jump, but there is an even bigger jump expected from people filing this year.


From the New York Times:

Won’t Pay Tax On Babies.

Socialist Town Council Thwarted by Indignant French Mothers.

By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times

The Socialist Municipal Council of Brest has imposed a tax of 6 cents daily on market vendors for the right to wheel handcarts through the streets. The ordinance applies to baby carriages, and mothers and nurses are up in arms at the demand that they pay 6 cents every time they take a baby out for an airing.

The first attempt to collect the tax was made yesterday, and all the women refused to pay.