The lowest tax levels since 1950?

Amid complaints about high taxes and calls for a smaller government, Americans paid their lowest level of taxes last year since Harry Truman‘s presidency, a USA TODAY analysis of federal data found.

Some conservative political movements such as the “Tea Party” have criticized federal spending as being out of control. While spending is up, taxes have fallen to exceptionally low levels.

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. The overall tax burden hit bottom in December at 8.8.% of income before rising slightly in the first three months of 2010.

So go ahead baggers and protest the Democrats and their “high taxes”. And let’s have the Republicans out there saying “the Republican Party will lower your taxes”. We all know the truth that historically the party that has raised taxes is the Republican Party, unless you happen to be in that top 2% of the economic wealth of our nation. Of course most of those people are out there saying they should be paying more in taxes.