Yes, it IS true. From the New York Times:
The top 1 percent of income earners paid about 36.7 percent of federal income taxes and 25.3 percent of all federal taxes in 2004. The top 20 percent of income earners paid 67.1 percent of all federal taxes, up from 66.1 percent in 2000, according to the budget office.
By contrast, families in the bottom 40 percent of income earners, those with incomes below $36,300, typically paid no federal income tax and received money back from the government. That so-called negative income tax stemmed mainly from the earned-income tax credit, a program that benefits low-income parents who are employed.
Math is not your strong suit. If we assume that "most" implies at least a majority (it does), that quote doesn't say what you seem to think it says. If among the bottom 40% of income earners (which are not a majority of income earners to begin with) they "typically" pay no federal income tax (implying that some
do pay income tax) I fail to see how this implies that a
majority pay no income tax. You've just shown that
maybe 38% at best don't. And that might be a stretch.
I'm kicking myself for not saving that link, because now I can't find it. Anyway, as of 1996 apparently the
median income tax (note, this is
only income tax) paid by households was $2000. This means (by the definition of the median) that half of all households paid less, and half of all households paid more. In order for "most" households to pay no income tax, the median tax paid would have to have been 0$.
This link states that a median-income family of four will pay 6.8% if its income in federal income tax (again, not including other taxes). Assuming that these families are more likely to qualify for many of the larger breaks in federal income tax (home mortgage interest, dependents, etc.) this would also suggest that a majority of households in this country will pay more than 0% in federal income tax.
Looking to your own links, [http://www.taxfoundation.org/files/wp1.pdf]this[/url] to the Tax Foundation seems to contradict you (or, in case you simply misunderstood The Tourist, him) as well. Page 42 states that the average effective federal income tax rate (ignoring all other taxes) for the second quintile is 2.78%, and the average for the third quintile is 4.96%. Considering that the median household would fall in the middle of that third quintile, I'm still not seeing how it's mathematically possible for "most" households to have zero federal income tax liability.
EDIT: I'll actually tone down that last statement, and instead challenge you to contradict my analysis. I'm confident you'll be unable to.