[kinsman redeemer]

Major categories of "Where my money went last year":

Taxes 21% (doesn't count sales tax)
Charity (redacted)
Insurance 7%
Automobile 4% (includes gas/oil/maintenance and repair)

[kinsman redeemer]

 

Tax Hikes, Tax Cuts

1993 saw a tax hike on the wealthy (via two new brackets at the top), and then 2001 through 2003 saw a series of tax cuts that lowered the tax brackets as follows:

1992	1993 - 2000	2001	2002	2003 - 2008
15%	15%	15%	10%	10%
			15%	15%
28%	28%	27.5%	27%	25%
31%	31%	30.5%	30%	28%
	36%	35.5%	35%	33%
	39.6%	39.1%	38.6%	35%

SOURCE: MoneyChimp.com