5. Few people owed at first
Before World War II, a small number of individuals or families owed income taxes. In fact, because of a high personal exemption, just 1.1 percent of working-age people filed a return, according to the Tax Foundation and approximately 17 percent of those filers did not have to pay income taxes.
6. Many people pay virtually no tax today
According to the Tax Policy Center (Think tank), about 42.8 percent of tax filers will owe no individual income tax or have negative taxable income for this year.
