Conservatives have told us over and over again that our taxes are simply too high. We pay too much. Several years back I went to see J. C. Watts speak. I'm happy to say that I didn't have to pay that much to hear him, because he was on the tax thing. I'm paraphrasing - "When we get up in the morning we are reminded that we are paying taxes on our house. When we brush our teeth we are paying taxes on the water and toothbrush. When we kiss our spouses in the morning, there is a marriage tax. We get in our cars and there is a car tax. When we fill up with gas there is a gas tax. We are taxed to death, which, of course, bring us to the death tax." The conservatives were standing on their feet. I'm sure that some were crying with joy that someone was feeling their pain. I felt nauseated because Mr. Watts was shoveling garbage. He was mixing recurring taxes with one-time taxes. He was mixing local, state and federal taxes all in one bag (which is a great way to get conservatives frothing at the mouth but a terrible way to move us past rhetoric and towards policy solutions).

Today our federal tax burden is less than it has been since 1950, when Harry Truman was president in. The People's Republica of China had just been formed. The Russians had just exploded their first hydrogen bomb. GM and Ford were stable companies. That was a long time ago. Republicans would have us believe that we are paying more in federal taxes than ever. That is simply not true.

From EPI:

This diminished tax burden on the wealthiest has contributed to the historically low federal revenue levels we are seeing today, and in turn, to higher deficits. The Congressional Budget Office projects federal revenue in 2011 will total 14.8% of GDP—the lowest level since 1950. At the same time that the tax burden has shifted away from the wealthy, this same top income group has enjoyed  massively disproportionate income gains.  Between 1992 and 2007, a time in which income for the average household and top one percent grew 13% and 123%, respectively, the income for the top 400 households grew fully 399%.