system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
How do 47% of people in the US not pay federal income tax?

Is 47% of the population below the poverty line? Does that number include children and other ineligible-for-work demographics? I'm so confused.

Thanks for keeping your responses civil : )
gpt
There are a few groups of people who don't pay federal income tax. 

The biggest group (about 60% of them) don't because they qualify for enough deductions to reduce their burden to $0 (think lower-class families with kids). Both parties are responsible for introducing tax cuts/credits, so if this is in response to Mitt Romney's leaked video, it's a bit of a stretch to blame it on Obama and the Democrats (in fact, the biggest jumps in non-taxpayers happened under Reagan and Bush II). With that said, they do pay payroll taxes, for things like Social Security.

Almost a quarter are elderly and retired.

About 15% are the under-the-poverty-line types.