That's the conclusion of
The Tax Foundation, a "non-partisan" lobby group founded in 1937 that is pushing for --- guess what? ---sound tax policy. (Good luck with that!) The Tax Foundation also found that over 50 million nonpayers included families making over $50,000. Essentially, the gub'ment (say with best Michigan Militia accent) uses the tax code to "funnel money" to groups of people they want to reward, the Foundation concludes.
The Foundation also states in a report released Wednesday, "A nonpaying tax return is one filed by an individual or couple who, thanks to legal credits and deductions, owes nothing. Most people who get a refund after filing their tax returns are not nonpayers; they have overpaid their taxes through paycheck withholding and are being refunded just a tiny portion of that payment.
"But during 2008, more than a third of all tax returns resulted in complete nonpayment; that is, people got back every dollar that was withheld from their paychecks during the year. Many got quite a bit more, turning Tax Day into a payday."
In essence, the gub'ment has created a Client State, meaning, via the tax code and other entitlement programs, our government has turned millions of Americans into its clients. "You vote for me, I give you money." By using tax credits (set aside outright entitlement programs), the gub'ment creates favored groups, to subsidize, say, people with children, people who own homes, "college students, and purchasers of hybrid cars, just to name a few of the most well known," the Foundation says.
The Foundation concludes: "Over the past two decades, Washington lawmakers have increasingly turned to the tax code to deliver social benefits, incentivize behaviors, and funnel money to targeted groups, which they always refer to as 'helping the middle class.' These measures have not only added complexity to an already Byzantine tax system, they have also eliminated the income tax obligation for millions of tax filers and their families. As a result, a record 51.6 million tax filers—36 percent of all filers—had little or no connection with the basic costs of government in 2008."