The lowest tax level in decades
< One study says Americans are paying the lowest taxes since Harry Truman was president.
Posted by Kim Peterson on Tuesday, May 11, 2010 2:44 PM
Tax protest © Brian Hagiwara/Brand X/CorbisWe hear lots of talk about high taxes, but the truth is that Americans are paying their lowest level of taxes since 1950, USA Today reports.
About 9.2% of Americans' personal income went to federal, state and local taxes in 2009, the newspaper reports. Historically, we've paid about 12%.
* Video: Turn tax refund into tax credit
Why are taxes so low? Several reasons. First, there were the tax cuts that were part of the $862 billion stimulus package last year, USA Today reports. A third of that stimulus went straight to tax cuts.
Second, the newspaper reports that Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush cut income taxes dramatically for poor and middle-class families over the years. Now, the federal tax burden for some of them has been cut to zero.
Finally, the recession has led many people to rein in spending, meaning they didn't pay as much in sales taxes in 2009.
The tax rate will surely rise in the next few years, however. One tax policy expert told USA Today that the stimulus tax credits are set to expire at the end of 2010. So lawmakers will be considering whether to extend them into 2011.
The people in the comments at the link think this is bogus, too.
hmmm lower taxes... could it be because all of those people out of work don’t have a paycheck for the government to steal, I mean take taxes from??