Federal Taxes are at their lowest in decades....

[Magicman]

Federal taxes on the middle class are at their lowest level in decades. http://www.cbpp.org/images/cms//4-14-10tax-f1.jpg ]


This diagram shows that taxes are at their lowest so it's going against the Tea Parties argument of higher taxes. What arguments prove that Obama administration is causing our taxes to raise (i.e. inflation, overspending)?

[RCA]

It's been replaced by many other taxes sort of like re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

[torchbearer]

they left out the inflation tax.

[nate895]

Federal taxes on the middle class are at their lowest level in decades. http://www.cbpp.org/images/cms//4-14-10tax-f1.jpg ]


This diagram shows that taxes are at their lowest so it's going against the Tea Parties argument of higher taxes. What arguments prove that Obama administration is causing our taxes to raise (i.e. inflation, overspending)?

Notice the spike at the end of the graph? That is almost entirely in the Obama administration. Also, taxes could have lowered on middle-class families because income is lower these days. So, while taxes might be lower, the impact on families is a lot more.

[tremendoustie]

Missing inflation, debt, damaging market distortions, corporatist-favored anti competitive regulations, etc.

[erowe1]

Federal taxes on the middle class are at their lowest level in decades. http://www.cbpp.org/images/cms//4-14-10tax-f1.jpg ]


This diagram shows that taxes are at their lowest so it's going against the Tea Parties argument of higher taxes. What arguments prove that Obama administration is causing our taxes to raise (i.e. inflation, overspending)?

Spending = Taxation

Spending is up. Therefore, taxation is up.

You can't just pick out one little piece of taxation, and say, "Look here, if we limit our scope to people making between $45k and $48k/year and we only count the income tax and not any other way they carry any of the government's total tax burden, then within those limits they pay less."

[ctiger2]

they left out the inflation tax.

We have a Winner!

[Epic]

everything spent is taxed one way or another.

Spending is way up, so taxation is way up.

Most of it is hidden in the increased inflation tax.

[RCA]

Spending = Taxation

Spending is up. Therefore, taxation is up.

You can't just pick out one little piece of taxation, and say, "Look here, if we limit our scope to people making between $45k and $48k/year and we only count the income tax and not any other way they carry any of the government's total tax burden, then within those limits they pay less."

nice post

[Lovecraftian4Paul]

Everyone is so happy to get "refunds" due to these "low taxes." They so easily forget that the money refunded is not free, it's your income that they took out of your cheque.

[Promontorium]

This is the end of Bush's tax impact. Or are we in fantasy land right now? Of course they're low.

That's why Obama won. To raise our taxes.

You see, government has two choices to fix a budget, tax more or spend less. Bush did neither. Obama will tax more.

That's one thing that really pissed me off about idiotic critics of Bush. Like parrots they still to this day use the phrase "tax cuts for the wealthy". Bush cut taxes for all brackets, and overwhelmingly by percentage cut more taxes for the poor than for the wealthy.

Not cutting taxes for the poor was not Bush's mistake. Not by a damn longshot. Cutting taxes and raising debt spending. That's the problem.

Debt spending = inflation = everything magically more expensive and the government doesn't have to talk to your boss to get you to pay up. Hell, debt spending is an even better tax than tax, because no one can get paid uninflated money under the table, unless they're opting for Euros or some other currency.

[tremendoustie]

Spending = Taxation

Spending is up. Therefore, taxation is up.

You can't just pick out one little piece of taxation, and say, "Look here, if we limit our scope to people making between $45k and $48k/year and we only count the income tax and not any other way they carry any of the government's total tax burden, then within those limits they pay less."

Exactly right. And this is even clearer as you understand economics. It's not really about money, it's about labor. When the government "spends", it takes labor and resources that would otherwise be used to provide things people want and need in the free market, and uses this labor and resources to accomplish things IT wants.

Forget the movement of little green pieces of paper. Every person working for the government is a person not working to produce goods that make us all wealthier -- what they consume, they suck off of the private sector that is producing these things, leaving less for everyone else.

[noxagol]

Everyone is so happy to get "refunds" due to these "low taxes." They so easily forget that the money refunded is not free, it's your income that they took out of your cheque.

Yeah. My parents say they like it because like a savings account. I told them that if they put the money they take out and put it in a real savings account, they would have more money because of interest. They don't like arguing with me.

[Truth-Bringer]

I question this source - looks like a predominantly liberal group. I'd be curious as to how they arrived at such calculations.

[paulitics]

Beyond idiotic. Federal taxes are not at their lowest, federal income taxes are, but who cares when Fica taxes are 15.4%, plus business, environmental taxes, cell phone taxes, transportation, etc, etc. The federal government has grown leaps and bounds, and is taxing us either directly or indirectly through inflation at levels never seen before.

Someone needs to change the title of this thread to Federal Income Taxes, because it is highly inaccurate.

[TheBlackPeterSchiff]

The government taxes what it spends.

[Magicman]

I question this source - looks like a predominantly liberal group. I'd be curious as to how they arrived at such calculations.

I was wondering the same thing.

[Zippyjuan]

I question this source - looks like a predominantly liberal group. I'd be curious as to how they arrived at such calculations.
According to the link, the figures came from both the US Treasury Department and the Tax Policy Center. Tax Policy Center chart of their figures (PDF): http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/Content/PDF/family_inc_rates_hist.pdf
How they calculated the figures is listed in the footnotes. They took median income figures from the Census Bureau and tax rates from the Treasury Department.

There is a difference between average tax rate and a marginal tax rate. The marginal tax rate is the tax rate you would pay on earning one more dollar while an average rate looks at how much every dollar you earn was taxed. With the personal exemption and other deductions, not all of your income is hit by the Federal Income Tax. If you (or the government) increase your deductions, your average tax rate may go down while your marginal rate stays the same.

SmartMoney has some information and a calculator if you want to try some numbers yourself.
http://www.smartmoney.com/personal-finance/taxes/whats-your-average-tax-rate-9548/