Despite Tea Bagger Propaganda, U.S. Tax Burden Is Lowest Since 1950

[babsbunny]

http://www.pensitoreview.com/2010/05/11/despite-tea-bagger-propaganda-u-s-tax-burden-is-lowest-since-1950/

Jon Ponder | May. 11, 2010

Tea baggers like to say their group’s name stands for “Taxed Enough Already.” But as is the case with just about everything related to this corporate-funded, astroturfed protest mob phenomenon, even the name is wrong:

Amid complaints about high taxes and calls for a smaller government, Americans paid their lowest level of taxes last year since Harry Truman’s presidency, a USA TODAY analysis of federal data found.

Some conservative political movements such as the “Tea Party” have criticized federal spending as being out of control. While spending is up, taxes have fallen to exceptionally low levels.

[gratuitous]

1. Funny that

They're also fond of mouthing "freedom isn't free," but damned if they're going to pay for it.

[YOY]

2. Yeah...saw a bumpersticker yesterday..."Driver has no cash. Obama took it all."

You can guess the driver's demographic and vehicle type. I can only assume what goddawful tripe was playing on his radio.

They need some new material.

[Ian David]

4. "Driver has no cash. Bush dropped it all on Iraq." n/t

[ShortnFiery]

3. Bullshit! Our (the middle class) standard of living is significantly lower.

Raise taxes on the super-rich, NOT the rest of us.

[notesdev]

5. Are you counting

the bankster bonus tax that we pay on virtually every financial transaction?

The financial burden on average people IS at an historic high. Direct taxation is only part of that.

But if you say, buy a home, you've paid at least twice what you should have, because your tax money is going to keep those prices high (and, perversely, to fill the debt holes of institutions like Frannie/Freddie which allegedly exist to make these artificially high prices "affordable").

When you fill up your car's gas tank, yes you are paying some (steep) direct taxes, but you are ALSO paying a premium to speculators like JP Morgan or Citibank, whose tankers full of oil are sitting off our shores waiting for the next oil shock so they can cash in. And you also paid to enable those companies to speculate; they would be long since bankrupt without your bailout dollars.

If you buy food, you not only pay for your food and the taxes, but also the residual costs of shipping (as per the previous paragraph) AND you also pay for the web of subsidies that land in the pocket of politically connected producers.

If you buy health care, you are not just paying for your care, you are paying for care for all the people who don't pay as well as for all the people covered by insurance that doesn't really cover the costs.

So when you hear complaints about the financial burden of taxation, realize that direct taxes are only a part of the problem. Government action, at the behest of the profiting elites, impoverishes us all in virtually every aspect of life that it touches.

This brings us back to the fundamental problem in our society - that presently, our society is run for the benefit of less than 1% of the people, when it should be run for the benefit of ALL the people.