![Far fewer Americans owed federal income tax in 2020 because of the pandemic](https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/210113173026-us-stimulus-check---stock-super-tease.jpg)
Far fewer Americans owed federal income tax in 2020 because of the pandemic
CNN
Nearly 107 million US households -- about 61% -- owed no federal income tax in 2020, a huge spike from pre-pandemic times. But that increase should be short-lived.
The coronavirus-fueled upheaval in the economy, which cost more than 20 million jobs in April 2020, and the sweeping federal relief packages drove up the share of non-payers by roughly 40%, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. Only about 75 million households, or 44%, didn't pay federal income tax in 2019, said Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow at the center, who called the increase for 2020 "eye-popping, but temporary."![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250215004209.jpg)
The morning after the mass resignation of prosecutors sparked a crisis inside the Trump Justice Department, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove led a meeting with the Justice Department’s public integrity section. His message: they had to choose one career lawyer to file a dismissal of the corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, according to three people briefed on the meeting.
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Seventh prosecutor in Eric Adams case resigns and calls out Trump’s former lawyer in scathing letter
A federal prosecutor assigned to the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams resigned Friday in a blistering letter that accused top leaders at the Justice Department of looking for a “fool” to dismiss the criminal charges.