A taxing canard

There is a meme that is perpetuated by every conservative organization, think tank, pundit, and man in the street in this country. That meme states that we are a heavily and unjustly taxed people. That meme is a total falsehood.

In fact, ours is one of the lower taxed countries among western nations.

Any member of the tea party movement, meanwhile, knows and will be glad to tell you in a very loud voice that taxes have been raised since Barack Obama became president. The fact that this, too, is totally false will never stand in the way of a true teabagger rant.

In fact, taxes for most Americans were lowered in 2009. In actuality a USA Today analysis shows that taxes in 2009 were the lowest they had been since 1950 when Harry S. Truman was president. Yes, he was a Democrat, too.

So much for the Republicans' constant harping about how taxes are always higher under a Democratic president.

The USA Today story stated in part:

Federal, state and local taxes — including income, property, sales and other taxes — consumed 9.2% of all personal income in 2009, the lowest rate since 1950, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reports. That rate is far below the historic average of 12% for the last half-century.


Now that the truth is out, I feel sure that all those tea partiers and Republicans will be retracting their statements about how taxes are higher now than they have ever been and they will be apologizing to President Obama for defaming him and lying about his policies. It is what any honorable person who made such an egregious mistake would do, right?

Oh. Right.

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