Tax Foundation, Americans Paying More in Taxes than for Food, Clothing, and Shelter:

In 2012, Americans will pay approximately $4.041 trillion in taxes, which is $152 billion, or 3.9%, more than they will spend on housing, food, and clothing. … Between 1929 and the early 1980s, aggregate tax collections were less than total expenditures on housing, food, and clothing. From 1929 to 1980, tax liabilities grew from $10 billion to $751 billion, while expenditures on housing, food, and clothing grew from $41.6 billion to $775.7 billion. In 1982, total tax collections exceeded expenditures on those items. The gap between tax collections and expenditures on essential goods reached a maximum in 2000, when Americans gave 19% more to the government than they spent on these items. The growth in tax collections has halted due to economic contractions, such as the collapse of the "dot-com bubble" in 2001 and the 2007-2009 financial crisis.