Federal Taxes Drop Under Obama

This certainly steals some thunder from right-wing whiners:

For all the Tea Party complaining, a new study finds that the government will actually collect less tax revenue this year than at any point since the 1950s. According to a Congressional Budget Office estimate, Americans will pay fewer taxes this year than they did under President George W. Bush, and income tax payments will be 13 percent lower than they were in 2008. “Federal taxes are at historic lows,” the Associated Press writes, and while the recession is partly to blame, the tax code has also been rewritten to favor families making under $50,000 a year. In tandem with big-ticket spending, this means that the government now borrows 40 cents on every dollar it spends, and economists are not happy about it. “America’s tax system is clearly broken,” said former Bush economic adviser Donald Marron. “It fails at its most basic task, which, lest we forget, is raising enough money to pay for the federal government.” To prove the point, 2011 tax revenue is expected to measure up to 14.8 percent of the gross domestic product--the lowest ratio since Harry Truman was in office, the AP writes. “The current state of the tax code is simply indefensible,” says Senate Budget Committee chairman Sen. Kent Conrad. “It is hemorrhaging revenue.” As a result, analysts say that the government has no choice but to raise taxes over the next few years.

(Hat tip to Salon.)