1470 US millionaires paid no tax in 2009

New tax data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) shows that 1470 of the 235,413 wealthy US citizens who earned $1 million or more in 2009 paid no taxes.
The data also shows that in 2009, incomes fell, unemployment claims rose, and the US economy shed nearly two million taxpayers, the Huffington Post reported on Friday.

The average income for US taxpayers fell to $54,283 — a drop of $3,516, or about 6.1 percent, between 2008 and 2009, according to the IRS.

The data also showed that the overall number of taxpayers — that is, individuals or married couples filing with the IRS — fell by almost two million.

“What you’re seeing is the devastation of the massive loss of jobs and the effects of the real recession on real Americans,” said Ed Kleinbard, a law professor at the University of Southern California.

US millionaires are now paying about one-quarter less of their income in federal taxes than they did in the mid 1990s.

The US Department of the Treasury says the country’s debt has now topped 100 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) amid concerns over the slow pace of economic recovery.