Stewart and Leonhardt, Two Great Tastes That Taste Great Together

David Leonhardt has an excellent dissection of the conservative talking point du jour that 47% of Americans don't pay income taxes:

The 47 percent number is not wrong. The stimulus programs of the last two years — the first one signed by President George W. Bush, the second and larger one by President Obama — have increased the number of households that receive enough of a tax credit to wipe out their federal income tax liability.

But the modifiers here — federal and income — are important. Income taxes aren’t the only kind of federal taxes that people pay. There are also payroll taxes and capital gains taxes, among others. And, of course, people pay state and local taxes, too.

Even if the discussion is restricted to federal taxes (for which the statistics are better), a vast majority of households end up paying federal taxes. Congressional Budget Office data suggests that, at most, about 10 percent of all households pay no net federal taxes. The number 10 is obviously a lot smaller than 47.

Meanwhile, Jon Stewart had a segment on this issue that was so funny I literally spit out my water while watching it -- as in Stewart's familiar gag, but accidentally.