For what it's worth, in 2004 the Federal Government collected $1,150 Billion in Personal, corporate, excise, duty and "rest of world" taxes. It also collected $802 Billion in Social Insurance taxes, for a total of $1,952 Billion in Federal Tax Receipts (NIPA Data).
Of that $1,952 Billion, over half of the $802 Billion Social Insurance Taxes were taken directly from employee paychecks, and thus annotated on the paystub (it's over half because the self employed pay both halves of the tax and, as such have direct "paystub" accounting of the amount ... but let's just use half:) $401 Billion of "payroll taxes" on the paystub.
Of the rest, $732 Billion was paid through withholding (check Tax Stats for 2004) and thus was also accounted on paystubs.
That brings us to $401 + $732 = $1,133 Billion of Federal Taxes shown directly on paystubs, or $1,133/$1,952 = 58%.
That indeed represents a majority of Federal Taxes accounted directly on paystubs.
Oh, and for what it's worth, the AMT, in 2004, amounted to a whopping $13 Billion of the $1,952 or 0.67% of Federal Taxes.
You sure are making a lot of noise about a rather insignificant amount.
The point is: federal taxes are not as obvious or as transparent as you make them out to be and that is purposeful. Look are your math and tell me that the average Joe really bothers to figure those numbers.....and the IRS/bureaucrappers want to keep it that way b/c withholding allows them to take stealthily. Read about the history of withholding and tell me that it was done out of the goodness of their hearts. sure. If everyone got a bill at the end of the year from the IRS (as use to happen) then people would scream about the amount of their taxes, but take a little at a time and people hardly notice. smart, hardly obvious. purposeful
As far as the amount being insignificant; my AMT whack was hardly that.