Do nearly half of American tax payers pay no income taxes?

An admittedly brief analysis allows me to draw the following conclusions.  The 2009 IRS numbers say that (after all deductions and credits):

The top 0.7% (<1 percent) of the tax payers are paying 29.8% of all income taxes. 
The top 3.78% of the tax payers are paying 47.8% of all income taxes. 
The top 16.8% of the tax payers are paying 72.5% of all income taxes. 
The top 27.8% of the tax payers are paying 81.2% of all income taxes. 
The top 45.7% of the tax payers are paying 91.8% of all income taxes. 
The top 55.9% of the tax payers are paying 94.7% of all income taxes. 

Examining the bottom 44.1% ...

The bottom 0.3% of the tax payers are paying 0.0026% of all income taxes. 
The bottom 2.6% of the tax payers are paying 0.0488% of all income taxes. 
The bottom 8.5% of the tax payers are paying 0.3% of all income taxes. 
The bottom 15.5% of the tax payers are paying 0.7% of all income taxes. 
The bottom 23.2% of the tax payers are paying 1.4% of all income taxes. 
The bottom 30.8% of the tax payers are paying 2.3% of all income taxes. 
The bottom 44.1% of the tax payers are paying 5.3% of all income taxes. 

So it appears that it's more accurate to say that nearly half of American tax payers are paying just 5% of the income tax.

Some more in depth reports indicate that the 47% no income tax is for "single filers," while my analysis was for all filers.  The claim is not totally accurate as represented, but it's not too far off - interpolating the last data from each group gives us about 50% of tax payers paying about 93% of all income tax.

Anyway, this is just something to think about, especially for people who are carrying around the idea that the wealthy aren't paying their fair share.  (Note that the top 16.8% might be considered wealthy as that includes all filers whose taxable income is above $100,000.)
Examine the data for yourself on the IRS website.
Table 1.4:  All Returns:  Sources of Income, Adjustments, and Tax Items
Table 3.3:  All Returns:  Tax Liability, Tax Credits, and Tax Payments