the telling tale is "the total tax burden exceeds 50%".
besdes direct taxes (e.g. personal income taxes), we have property taxes, corporate taxes and sales taxes. then there are taxes we pay that we do not realize that much: gasoline tax, luxury tax, alcohol and cigarette taxes, import tariffs, etc. these all take their toll on productivity and our economy.
worse yet, the liberals have figured out how to tax us so that much of the people 'feel good' about it, or don't even realize they are being taxed.
and i did not even mention inflation, the cruelest tax of all...
we started down the path of socialism with a 4% personal income tax earlier this century and have been become one of the largest socialistic countries in the world. there have been attempts to repeal the personal income tax, all of which have ended in failure and irs audits.