http://thinkprogress.org/special/2011/10/12/341563/memo-to-erick-erickson-the-working-poor-pay-more-in-state-and-local-taxes-in-ever/In response to the growing 99 Percent movement that has tapped into the energy of Occupy Wall Street to unleash nationwide protests against economic inequality, a smattering of right-wing bloggers led by Erick Erickson and Josh Trevino along with conservative filmmaker Mike Wilson have created a new tumblr about the “53 percent.”
The tumblr features various people explaining their economic circumstances and often boasting of being self-made and not needing help from anyone. The flippant disclaimer for the tumblr explains that the 53 percent number was chosen because the site’s originators believe that this is the percentage of Americans that pay taxes:
So, like, when you’re, like, community organizing for solidarity and stuff, it’s totally cool to have this little hashtaggy thingy when you’re on twitter, so other people, like, totally know what you’re talking about and stuff. So if you’re, like, totally gonna spread the word about being one of the 53% of people who actually, like, pay taxes in America and don’t just, like, hang out protesting stuff all day… like, here’s the hashtaggy thingy. See you at the protest! #iamthe53
But the founding principles of the tumblr and the “53 percent” meme itself is flawed. It is true that 47 percent of Americans did not pay net federal income taxes in 2009 — the number is unusually high because of the depression in incomes following the recession — but it is completely false that only 53 percent of Americans pay taxes.
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