What percentage of African American households pay any federal income tax versus payroll tax?

1. What the headline figures mean

The Tax Foundation reported that 48 percent of African American tax filers “file a tax return with no liability,” meaning those filers owed no federal income tax after credits and deductions in the year analyzed ^[1]. That figure refers to liability on the individual income tax, not whether someone filed a return or paid other taxes withheld from paychecks ^[1]. The Tax Foundation frames this as a share of “zero-tax filers” within racial groups rather than an overall population share of households.

2. Why income-tax liability can be zero even when people “pay taxes”

Federal income tax liability can be reduced to zero by the standard deduction, tax credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit, and refundable credits that can produce a refund without net income tax owed ^[2]. The Tax Foundation and IRS data show the income tax system is progressive and that many lower-income households — a group that includes a larger share of African American households — end up with little or no income tax liability ^{[2] [1]}.

3. Payroll taxes are structurally different and harder to avoid

Payroll taxes (Social Security and Medicare) are collected at source from wages and are not eliminated by most refundable credits or the standard deduction; almost all workers with wages pay payroll taxes up to statutory limits ^[2]. The Tax Foundation emphasized that federal income taxes are “much more progressive than federal payroll taxes,” and payroll taxes represent about 20 percent of all taxes collected at all levels of government ^[2]. The sources provided do not give a direct percentage of African American households who pay payroll taxes, however (p1_s3; available sources do not mention a specific payroll-tax share for African American households).

4. What the data sources cover — and what they don’t

IRS and Tax Foundation releases focus on income tax liability, effective rates, and the distributional incidence of federal income tax; the Tax Foundation produced the 48% figure for African American filers with zero income-tax liability ^{[1] [2]}. The Federal Reserve’s FRED series and Bureau of Labor Statistics items catalog “Personal Taxes: Federal Income Taxes by Race” over time but do not directly state household payroll-tax participation by race in the snippets provided ^{[3] [4]}. In short: the provided sources document income-tax liability by race, and they document payroll taxes’ overall share of tax revenue, but they do not report a matched statistic: “percentage of African American households who pay payroll taxes.”

5. Two important caveats for interpreting the 48% figure

First, “filers” is not identical to “households”: the Tax Foundation’s 48% refers to tax filers within the African American group rather than all African American households ^[1]. Second, zero federal income-tax liability does not imply zero net contribution to government programs: many zero-liability filers still pay payroll taxes, sales taxes, state and local taxes, and may receive refundable credits — the interaction of these elements matters for net tax burdens ^{[2] [1]}.

6. Competing perspectives and implicit agendas

The Tax Foundation’s analysis highlights the growth of “zero-tax” filers and frames the issue in terms of the income tax’s progressivity ^[1]. Policy analysts who emphasize payroll-tax incidence use the fact that payroll taxes are less progressive and affect wage earners broadly — the Tax Foundation notes payroll taxes make up about 20% of total tax collections and are less progressive than income tax ^[2]. Be aware: organizations that focus on highlighting “zero-income-tax” populations often use that number to argue for changes to income-tax policy; organizations focused on payroll-tax fairness stress payroll taxes’ regressive features ^{[1] [2]}.

7. Bottom line and what’s missing

The best-supported, sourced number in the available reporting is that 48% of African American tax filers had no federal income-tax liability ^[1]. The sources make clear payroll taxes are widespread and compose about 20% of total taxes, and that payroll taxes are generally less progressive than income tax ^[2]. The specific percentage of African American households who pay any payroll tax is not provided in the supplied sources (available sources do not mention a specific payroll-tax percentage for African American households). For a direct comparison — “X% pay any federal income tax vs. Y% pay payroll tax” by race — you would need linked microdata or tabulations that the current set of sources does not include.