>More fundamentally, I think the tax code is correct in not asking the poor to pay income tax. Those living below the poverty line have a hard enough time just paying the most necessary bills. They live wondering how the next phone bill or electric bill is going to get paid, where the next rent check is going to come from. $1000 is a heck of a lot of money to them. To the bond traders and lawyers of the world that's more like a restaurant tab.

Well, I might agree that everyone should be paying taxes, I even might agree with a flat tax rate, providing that all jobs are paid justly, effectively narrowing the the gap between the top earners and the bottom feeders well enough to allow the latter to be able to buy their house, enough food and healthcare and medications and other "luxuries" that the rich are able to buy in batches.