The whole 47% debate is a semantical strawman.
Those that are in that 47% category are paying taxes at the same rate as everyone else on their similar income including the millionares on that first x amount earned.
Where the debate is being thrown off the rails is that there is a refund due to credits that brings their effective tax rate down to 0%. Now, when this same logic is applied to corporations, it is summarily dismissed because "the U.S. has the highest corporate tax rates in the world!"
Now, never mind that there are companies that have earned billions upon billions of dollars that have the very same effective tax rate (0%) that the 47% have and that their contributions would drawf those of the collective 47%, it's the 47% that is unAmerican.
Take a look at this:
http://www.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/corporate_taxes_2009_who_pays_the_least.html
Among the 22 lowest tax payers amongst corporations, not a single one paid more than a flat 7% effective tax rate (and there was only one at that point). They made a combined $18.606B dollars in earnings (not total revenue...earnings!) before tax and paid a combined $2.086B in taxes.
And this was from 2009 data. Let's not forget the story of GE getting a $7B refund last year! But let's follow the strawman as we are led to believe that it is those at the bottom that are not contributing their fare share while those at the top keep using their slight of hand to take the money from their tax burdens and put it into their bonuses and congressional pockets.
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