That might appear to be a rather unusual question. Consider “all those tax cuts,” or as liberals call them, giveaways to the rich and the fact that Americans don’t pay nearly the amount that Europeans do. It sounds like Americans areundertaxed.
But, according to data released by the Internal Revenue Service recently, the federal government in 2006 will take in more than $2 trillion in taxes.
Think of that — more than $2 trillion in taxes. That’s more than $6,750 for every man, woman and child in the country.
At that rate, a household of four is looking at roughly $27,000 in taxes. Now remember, the annual median family income is only about $55,000 (for 2004, the latest available). So per-person federal taxes are about half the income for the median family.
We’d like to know how that could be considered undertaxed!
Of course, some readers may reply that the median family doesn’t pay $27,000 in income tax. True, that’s because higher-income workers actually pick up the lion’s share of that tax burden.
But also remember the federal government taxes businesses, and those costs get passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices. And then there are estate taxes and capital gains taxes and gasoline taxes, among others.
In other words, many of those taxes are hidden, so Americans never know they are paying them. Or they must be paid only under certain circumstances. The point is that people pay a lot more in taxes than they realize.
Now, some in Congress want the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts to expire? Maybe they think that $27,000 per family of four isn’t enough.