Taxes too high?
Actually, as a share of the nation’s economy, Uncle Sam’s take this year will be the lowest since 1950, when the Korean War was just getting under way.
And for the third straight year, American families and businesses will pay less in federal taxes than they did under former President George W. Bush, thanks to a weak economy and a growing number of tax breaks for the wealthy and poor alike.
Income tax payments this year will be nearly 13 percent lower than they were in 2008, the last full year of the Bush presidency. Corporate taxes will be lower by a third, according to projections by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Read more here.
Somewhat related: I was talking about taxes not long ago with a friend who’s a tax lawyer, and we got on the subject of a value-added tax (VAT). He noted that conservatives don’t like VATs because they raise lots of revenue, and liberals don’t like them because they’re regressive. All you need to do to drum up support for a VAT, he says, is point out to the conservatives that it’s regressive and to the liberals that it raises revenue.
A Thinking Reed 
I’m still trying to figure out how you can cut taxes and keep the economy running at a deficit while expecting to pay off the debt. Frankly, I don’t see any way you can. Someone will have to raise taxes sooner or later. And whoever it is, they’re going to suffer for doing what they have to do.