Following up on prior posts on articles by Bruce Bartlett:
The universal reaction [to the first article] was, "So what?" Why should Americans care if foreigners are even more overtaxed than we are?”
I thought this was a fair point, so I did another analysis looking only at taxation in the U.S. … [F]ederal revenues will consume 15.5% of GDP this year, down from 17.7% last year, 18.8% in 2007, and 20.9% in 2000. … The federal government will take less out of the economy in the form of revenue than any year since 1950.
But what about the average American, I wondered? Is it possible that the tax code has changed in some way that makes families worse off even though the aggregate level of taxation has fallen? …
In 2007, the latest year available, the median family paid 5.91% in federal income taxes. In every year from 1958 — the first year available — through 2002, it paid more. In 1981, before the Reagan tax cut took effect, the federal income tax rate on the median family was 11.79% — twice what it was in 2007. …
In my opinion, these tea parties had little, if anything, to do with current or projected tax levels. They were just partisan pep rallies designed to make out-of-power conservatives and Republicans feel better. Secondarily, they were about building audiences for Fox News and right-wing talk radio hosts.
