A few readers in response to my most recent piece expressed some incredulity about the chart showing that Americans paid, on average, about 30% of their income in taxes. This seemed low to them. In truth, it seemed low to me as well. I spent quite a bit of time when researching the article looking for reliable information about the tax burden for the average American household. This chart from the NYTimes indicates higher rates:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/11/30/us/tax-burden.html?ref=us
Tax Foundation has put Tax Freedom Day at April 17th:
http://taxfoundation.org/tax-topics/tax-freedom-day
Of course, this hasn’t stopped talking heads from opining that Americans aren’t paying enough:
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/facing-fiscal-cliff-taxpayers-have-had-it-easy-decades-1C7378082
Bertrand de Jouvenel wrote in On Power that “Achievement of the right to search its subjects’ pockets for the wherewithal to maintain its enterprises had been the first great victory of Power in modern times.” As the data indicate, the government is going to have to start searching sock drawers and seat cushions too – because it’s doing good, you know.
