10 Graphs That Explain the State of Our Taxes

It's Tax Weekend in America. Here are ten graphs from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities that put our tax state in perspective:

1. The U.S. is a low tax country, with government receipts coming in under the OECD average.

2. Federal income taxes on the typical family are historically low, having fallen by more than half since the 1980s.

3. Corporate income taxes are also at their 60 year low, having fallen 80 percent of their GDP share since the 1950s.

4. Effective tax rates on the wealthiest have declined steadily for the last 20 years.

5. The Bush tax cuts increased after-tax income by about $900 for the typical earner and $130,000 for the typical millionaire.

6. Letting the Bush tax cuts expire would reduce our debt to GDP ratio by more than a tenth of our economy.

7. Tax expenditures -- spending through the tax code, like the mortgage interest deduction -- amounts to more than $1 trillion, more than Medicare/Medicaid or Social Security.

8. Percentage income gains at the top percentile between 1979 and 2007 outpaced the middle quintile by a factor of 10.

9. The top 1 percent's share of total after-tax income has doubled in the last 30 years.

10. Most of the budget goes to health care, retirement security, and defense.