The next time someone tells you that the wealthy don’t pay enough taxes, or that they don’t pay “their fair share,” or some other such redistributionist rhetoric, here is the ammunition that will assist you in laying waste to their arguments. From this month’s Economist ($$$).

“By 2003 the bottom 60% paid a mere 0.6% of all income taxes…”

Or, in other words: 99.4% of all income taxes are paid by the wealthiest (read: middle class) 40% of wage-earners in this nation. The rest of you can’t even cover your own administrative costs.

Additionally: “The poorest 20% of Americans had an average income tax rate of -6% in 2003;-10% for households with children. Of the 136m Americans who file federal tax returns, 43.4m or 32% have zero or negative tax liabilities. Twenty years ago, that share was below 20%.”

The Economist goes on to say that for most people, the payroll tax is much more important than the income tax. Well, when 60% of the population pays no income tax, that seems to be pretty reasonable. But there’s always the argument that the payroll tax, as is, is about as regressive a tax as you can get – taxing the poorest among us at a level on par with even the wealthiest.

Some plan, huh?