How Many Millionaires Paid $0 in Taxes? Find Out for Yourself

Today the White House launched the official Federal Taxpayer Receipt for 2011, an online tool that gives Americans the ability to calculate where their tax dollars are being spent.  Americans can enter their tax information and calculate what portion of their tax dollars go to different priorities, such as veterans’ benefits or education. The President believes the American people deserve to know exactly how and where their tax dollars are being spent, that’s why he launched the first such receipt last year.  

There’s a new addition to this year’s Federal Taxpayer Receipt.  For the first time, Americans can not only see how their tax dollars are being spent, they can see just how many people making over a million dollars a year effectively paid $0 in taxes. That’s right. There are millionaires who didn’t pay a dime in taxes. That doesn’t that makes any sense. Not when so many middle class families are struggling to pay the bills or simply put food on the table.  

The President believes we should build an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules. That’s why he proposed the Buffett Rule. It’s simple: if you make more than $1 million a year, you should pay at least the same percentage of your income in taxes as middle class families do. On the other hand, if you make under $250,000 a year – like 98 percent of American families do – your taxes shouldn’t go up.  

In a couple of weeks Congress will have an opportunity to vote on the Buffett Rule. We’ll see where each member of Congress stands. They can either protect the tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, or they can fight for middle class families. We all know where the President stands -- he’ll continue to fight to restore the economic security for middle class families across the nation.


Learn more:

Amy Brundage is the Deputy Press Secretary for the Economy
JUMP TO: