Ten Charts that Prove the United States Is a Low-Tax Country

[TraumaT]

Maybe it's time for Americans to stop whining about paying taxes. And stop listening to conservative morons.

The United States is a low-tax country. That’s true for individuals and for corporations, and it’s true whether you compare us to other countries or the America of the past. No matter how you slice it the conclusion is the same.

Conservatives like to claim that our budget deficits are purely a “spending problem.” Said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY): “We don’t have this problem because we tax too little. We have it because we spent too much.”

It’s a popular talking point, but it simply isn’t true. Deficits do not stem from spending levels alone. They are the product of a mismatch between spending and revenue. And when revenue is as low as ours is, you end up with big deficits.

Here are 10 charts demonstrating the simple, clear truth that federal taxes in the United States are very low.



Recently, President Obama met with a group of House Republicans to discuss the federal budget and the national debt. During the course of that meeting, the president noted, correctly, that taxes today are even lower than they were under President Ronald Reagan. This fact was met with “a lot of ‘eye-rolling’” from the Republicans. They didn’t believe him.

This anecdote suggests that perhaps the reason conservatives think we don’t have a revenue problem is because they don’t know the facts. Taxes today are lower than they were under President Reagan. They’re lower today than they’ve been in 60 years. And they’re lower than they are in most developed countries.

We do have a debt problem coming down the road. That debt problem is the result of an aging population, rising health care costs, and, yes, revenue levels that are too low.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/ ... w_tax.html

[lkwalker]

That all ignores state and local taxes. Every state except NH and WYO have income taxes separate from federal income taxes. Most states also add a sales tax to every purchase in the neighborhood of 8 percent. Cities collect property taxes that probably average a few thousand dollars a year for every home owner. The US is taxed and retaxed and then taxed again. The greater problem is that we see fit to spend a trillion dollars a year destroying other countries and killing random people.

[Pigeon]

The greater problem is that we see fit to spend a trillion dollars a year destroying other countries and killing random people.

Wonder where we could find a trillion dollar cut for the deficient.

[TraumaT]

The greater problem is that we see fit to spend a trillion dollars a year destroying other countries and killing random people.

Wonder where we could find a trillion dollar cut for the deficient.

Yes, where.... Hm.....

http://costofwar.com/en/

[TraumaT]

That all ignores state and local taxes. Every state except NH and WYO have income taxes separate from federal income taxes. Most states also add a sales tax to every purchase in the neighborhood of 8 percent. Cities collect property taxes that probably average a few thousand dollars a year for every home owner. The US is taxed and retaxed and then taxed again.

OK, but have the state and local taxes been raised as much as the federal income taxes has plunged? If they haven't, the total tax level is still lower than before, isn't it?

[Pigeon]

Here the sales taxes have not changed in the last few decades. A percent or so was added for mass transit back then.

Property taxes are generally based on market value (that's a nice, exacting method at the whim of an appraiser). Lately due to the housing problem, improvement valuations are being lowered for people contesting them in some cities. Land, not so.

Often we hear political officer holders stating they didn't allow property taxes to rise, but with years of constant valuation increases the tax burden still went up.

[lkwalker]

The only taxes that have plunged are the taxes on the very wealthy for whose benefit these wars of mass destruction are waged. Were I to be elected my first act would be to confiscate their wealth. The second act would be to declare peace. The third act would be to announce myself as messiah.

[TraumaT]

The third act would be to announce myself as messiah.

[Pigeon]

The third act would be to announce myself as messiah.

A good reason to not believe in religion.

[TraumaT]

The third act would be to announce myself as messiah.

A good reason to not believe in religion.

Indeed, that is exactly how these things get started, hahahaha!