Under Obama Taxes Reach Lowest Level Since Truman

We’re overtaxed right? Especially under that confiscatory socialist Barack Hussein Obama, who the Wall Street Journal called “a determined man of the left whose goal is to redistribute much larger levels of income across society.” Umm … not so much. This from the AP:

Taxes too high?

Actually, as a share of the nation's economy, Uncle Sam's take this year will be the lowest since 1950, when the Korean War was just getting under way.

And for the third straight year, American families and businesses will pay less in federal taxes than they did under former President George W. Bush, thanks to a weak economy and a growing number of tax breaks for the wealthy and poor alike.

For those of you keeping score at home, federal tax receipts this year are expected to be about 14.8 percent of GDP. By contrast that figure was 17.5 percent in tax cut warrior George W. Bush’s last full year in office. [See editorial cartoons about the economy.]

And as Washington Monthly’s Steve Benen, who flagged this, points out:

Of course, this is only looking at federal taxes, and doesn't reflect state and local taxes, but a USA Today analysis found last year that if we include everything -- federal, state, and local taxes, including income, property, sales, and other taxes -- the percentage of personal income that's paid in taxes is still at its lowest level since 1950.

As Michael Ettlinger, head of economic policy at the Center for American Progress, said at the time, "The idea that taxes are high right now is pretty much nuts."

Keep these statistics in mind when the great budget debate starts in the coming weeks and we start hearing about Obama the deranged tax raiser again.

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