NYT admits that poor people typically don’t get much tax money back because they don’t pay much in taxes to begin with

You have to dig for it, but it’s there, in the midst of their class warfare piece about the rich and taxes:

The top 1 percent of income earners paid about 36.7 percent of federal income taxes and 25.3 percent of all federal taxes in 2004. The top 20 percent of income earners paid 67.1 percent of all federal taxes, up from 66.1 percent in 2000, according to the budget office.

By contrast, families in the bottom 40 percent of income earners, those with incomes below $36,300, typically paid no federal income tax and received money back from the government. That so-called negative income tax stemmed mainly from the earned-income tax credit, a program that benefits low-income parents who are employed.

Put another way: rich families were the undisputed winners from President Bush’s tax cuts, but people in the bottom half of the earnings scale were not paying much in taxes anyway.

I’m stunned – but pleased – to finally see the admission.

(Hat tip: Rob Port)

Speaking of taxes, McQ at QandO points out that Speaker Pelosi is trotting out the “it’s for the children” excuse on the possibility of the Dems raising taxes now that they are in control. Via CBS/AP (emphasis added):

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Democrats are not ruling out raising taxes for the wealthiest people to help pay for tax cuts for middle-income families.

Asked in a CBS News interview if Americans making over half-a-million dollars a year may see their taxes go up, Pelosi said: “They may. But as I say, that’s not where we’ll begin. It’s an option, it’s not a first resort.

[…]

“As we review what we get from … collecting our taxes and reducing waste, fraud and abuse, investing in education and in initiatives which will bring money into the Treasury, it may be that (repealing) tax cuts for those making over a certain amount of money, $500,000 a year, might be more important to the American people than ignoring the educational and health needs of America’s children,” Pelosi, D-Calif., told Bob Schieffer in an interview on Face The Nation aired Sunday.

Here’s an idea, Speaker Pelosi: Rather than raise taxes, why not just cut spending, like on something other than the Iraq war? How about helping “the children” by not cutting off the funds for the men and women who help protect them?

Perhaps that just makes too much sense for our new ‘leaders’ in Washington, DC.