Again, low income earners pay taxes. Plenty of taxes.
It’s true that nearly half of Americans (46%) don’t have any federal income tax liability, but
they pay other federal taxes,
plus state and local sales and property taxes. In most states, Texas in particular, the progressivity of
federal income taxes helps mitigate the regressivity of state and local taxes. (See America’s Tax System Is Not as Progressive as You Think.)
Wisconsin Budget Project: Are Low-Income Households Paying Too Little in Taxes?
You're either from or like Texas, right? Frome the same article:
A short paper by Citizens for Tax Justice points out that the lowest earning fifth of Texans pay a higher percentage of their income for taxes than their counterparts in all but 4 other states. “In other words, Texas has the fifth highest taxes for low-income families.” Other analyses by the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) in November 2008 show a marked contrast between the distribution of taxes in Texas and Wisconsin:
•In Texas the top 1% of earners pay 3.3% of their income in state and local taxes, compared to 8.5% of income by the middle fifth of Texas taxpayers, and 12.2% of income by the bottom fifth.
•Wisconsin’s tax distribution is much flatter, with the highest percentage contribution made by middle-income taxpayers. The top 1% of earners pay 8.0% of their income in state and local taxes, compared to 11.2% for the middle fifth, and 9.2% paid by the bottom fifth.