Tax Foundation Report on Nonpayers

MO Rage completely misunderstands this Tax Foundation report (link via Kansas City Prime Buzz). The report notes the rising percentage of tax filers who don’t owe any income tax, then states (emphasis mine):

A record had been set every year since 2002, as tax cuts throughout the Bush years, especially the refundable child tax credit, pushed low-to-middle income people off the tax rolls.

Here’s MO Rage’s reaction:

Shouldn’t we ALL pay at least something on our taxes, so we can keep our infrastructure and schools–everything–running?
[…] But no, we let corporations and wealthy people, mostly, pay for tax breaks–mostly by buying their Senators–and then jockeying up the books.

MO Rage suggests we institute a minimum tax that everyone has to pay.

I don’t know how you can read a report about fewer low- to middle-income people paying taxes and conclude that the wealthy are to blame. And I wouldn’t support a tax that everyone — including homeless people earning $500 a year — has to pay. A code that doesn’t tax some people or that gives them a credit can be more efficient than other anti-poverty policies, as this op-ed about minimum wage laws explains.