Tax Rate

What would you guess is the average federal income tax rate in the USA? 20%? 30%? 50%?

What would you say would be a good target tax rate? Would 20% be a fair price to pay for:

• The interstate highway system
• Airports and the air traffic control system which prevents (most) planes from smashing into each other
• Armed forces, including Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard
• Not having the elderly begging for alms in the streets (i.e. Social Security)
• Someone to foot the bill when your elderly mother needs heart surgery
• Not having to step over diseased beggars in the streets (i.e. Medicaid)

If we could get all that for a 20% income tax rate, that sounds like a fair deal, right? Wouldn't it be great if you income tax rate were 20%?

Except that the average federal tax rate for people with taxes to pay is currently less than 13%.

That's right. The 'Tea Party' folks are pitching a fit over the 'unfair' average tax rate (not including the people with no taxes to pay) of less than 13%.

Source: www.taxfoundation.org (retrieved on March 29, 2010)