Plus gas tax, sales tax, property tax, tolls, airline tickets to pay people to see us naked ab cop a feel, special taxes built into our utility and phone bills. I think average people pay 50% of their income in taxes.
I'd prefer to see either:
1. A single flat tax that covered everything; federal, state, local, gas, cell phone, tolls, whatever. Automatically deduced from our paychecks; no annual filling, loopholes, deductions, credits, whatever. Let the government figure out the math and split it up, not us. If the government wants to offer a credit for something, let that be separate from taxes and work like a rebate. If they want to add more taxation to cigarettes and beer with so-called sin taxes, roll that into the costs of the product like gas.
or
2. A single flat retail sales tax that covered everything. No payroll deductions, no annual filling, no loopholes, no deductions, no credits, no whatever. I'd be okay with a higher sales tax rate for luxury items and services and waiving the tax all together for residential homes that are less than 200% of the cost for median homes in their state. If the median home in your state is $150,000, no sales tax on homes $299,999.99 and under. And no property taxes ever.