Tax Units that Pay No Individual Income Tax
Many tax units owe no federal individual income tax because their income is too low or because tax credits reduce their tax liability to zero or lower. The following Tax Policy Center tables show the numbers and percentages of such tax units for various years and under alternative baseline assumptions. Distributional tables provide more information about those units by income level and other characteristics for specific years. Some tables also show units that owe no individual income tax or payroll tax.
| Tax Units paying no individual income tax (and payroll tax) under alternative baselines |
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| Distributional Tables for individual income tax |
| By Cash Income Level | | By Cash Income Percentile |
| Under Current Law |
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| Under Current Policy |
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| Under Obama Administration FY2012 Budget Proposal |
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| Distributional Tables for Simplified Income Tax with Expanded Definition of Income and Elimination of Tax Preferences |
| By Cash Income Level | | By Cash Income Percentile |
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| Tax units with zero or negative tax liability |
| Income Tax only | | Income and Payroll Taxes |
| by definition of income | | by definition of income |
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| Why Some Tax Units Pay No Income Tax |
| Current Law, 2011 |
| Tax Units with and without Income Tax Liability |
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| Tax Units without Income Tax Liability |
| Zero versus Negative Liability |
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| Due to Tax Expenditures |
| Stacked Tax Expenditures | Isolated Tax Expenditures |
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