45% don’t owe U.S. income tax

According to estimates by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, for tax year 2010, roughly 45% of households will owe nothing in federal income tax. Some will even end up getting paid money from the federal government.

The ranks of those whose federal income tax burden nets out to zero — or less — have grown in recent years for two reasons. The first reason is because of the downturn in the economy hurting household incomes and various stimulus bills offered Americans temporary tax breaks to mitigate the economic pain — thereby further reducing their tax bills.

The downturn in the economy has hurt household incomes and various stimulus bills offered Americans temporary tax breaks to mitigate the economic pain — thereby further reducing their tax bills. The second reason is that the tax code is filled with hundreds of tax breaks to encourage economic activities the government favors.0:00/2:32Biggest tax myths decoded Temporary tax policies, such as the Bush-era tax cuts and the tax breaks passed under President Obama, have also increased the ranks of the non-payers. If most tax breaks were removed, the Tax Policy Center estimates the percentage of households with no federal income tax liability would drop to 27% from 45%.

To read more about the U.S. tax income, visit CNN.