The 23% is the figure I had always seen, but wasn't sure that was the ONLY level. Also, by your description (which is much easier for me to understand than the "legaleeze" of the proposal), I wouldn't be paying taxes on as many types of expenditure as I had thought (e.g., not on education costs).
Thanks for explaining instead of flaming! I'm a summa cum laude engineer and, I guess by stereotypical definition, have the damnedest problem reading and understanding the language used in contracts, court documents, government bills, etc.!! Give me Maxwell's equations instead.....LOL!!