USA TODAY OPINION USA TODAY OPINION About Editorials/Debate Opinions expressed in USA TODAY's editorials are decided by its Editorial Board, a demographically and ideologically diverse group that is separate from USA TODAY's news staff. Most editorials are accompanied by an opposing view — a unique USA TODAY feature that allows readers to reach conclusions based on both sides of an argument rather than just the Editorial Board's point of view. The news came just in time to surprise and anger taxpayers sweating to get their 1040s done by Thursday's deadline: Almost half of individuals and households owe no taxes for 2009. Could that be true? OTHER VIEWS: 'Reverse this trend' Contrary to what you might have heard on talk radio or TV, it's not quite that simple. What's true is that the Tax Policy Center, a well-regarded think tank, calculated that 47% of Americans would owe no federal income taxes for 2009, up from the usual 38% who typically owe no income tax on April 15. Most still pay Social Security taxes, Medicare taxes, sales taxes and property taxes (if they own any property). So they're paying taxes, but the fact that 47% pay no federal income tax is nonetheless disturbing — not for what it says about the non-payers but for what it says about the nation's broken tax system and how hard it will be to fix it. The people who pay no income tax aren't freeloaders or evaders; virtually all are simply doing what the law allows. That there are so many of them is the result of decades of deliberate, bipartisan tax policy. That includes an appropriately progressive income tax that levies a heavier burden on better-off taxpayers, and little or none on those with the smallest incomes. It includes tax credits such as the ones that reward people for having children and help lift some people above the poverty line by rewarding them for working. And it includes President George W. Bush's tax cuts, which removed 5 million people from the tax rolls while giving big cuts to upper-income people as well. More people owe no income tax this year because the recession has cost many people their jobs, and the tax cuts in the stimulus act — an idea conservatives preferred to spending programs — were potent enough to help push some people's tax liability to zero. Once the stimulus expires and the economy recovers, the number of non-payers should fall back toward the typical 38%. Even that number, however, strikes us as too high. It's not healthy for society if somewhere between a third and half of all potential tax filers don't help share the cost of most of government, from defense to highways to national parks. Everyone above the poverty level should have at least a minimal stake in financing the nation. The fact that so many people have no income tax liability is a reflection of a leaky, dysfunctional tax system. The code is absurdly complex. (Some Americans have to pay hundreds of dollars to preparers just to find out that they don't owe any taxes.) It's riddled with loopholes and excessive social engineering. It's undermined by spending programs that masquerade as tax credits. It even fails at its basic function of raising revenue, taking in barely $1 for every $2 the government spends. That's an unsustainable gap. Virtually every budget expert agrees that closing it will require trims in popular programs, particularly the underfunded Medicare and Social Security systems. That's a matter of math, not ideology, because that's where the rising costs are. It will require higher taxes on middle- and upper-income people. It will require narrowing loopholes and perhaps even some sort of national sales, or value-added, tax. In short, it will require a shared national sacrifice. When nearly half of households don't pay federal income taxes, it makes consensus harder to achieve by undermining the sense that we're all in this together. Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more