TEA party protesters need a more accurate view of the facts

July 5, 8:18 AMPolitical Buzz ExaminerRyan Witt

Previous Next

3 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Political Buzz Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Protesters in Illinois urge a tax increase.  AP Photo Seth Perlman

On July 4th some 2,000 T.E.A. (Taxed Enough Already) party activists were able to make national news by protesting at U.S. Capitol.  The TEA protesters are upset at what they view as high tax rates along with increased government spending.

A group of protesters that did not get national attention is some 5,000 people who recently protested at the Illinois State Capitol for the legislature there to INCREASE tax revenue rather than see valuable state programs cut.  That is right double the amount of protesters and yet they could only get local media coverage for their cause.  Anyone who truly subscribes to the theory of a liberal media bias should take note of this example.  

So which of these protesters has the facts on their side?  A chart released by the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation reveals that history may actually be on the side of those urging a tax increase.  Using the data of the Heritage Foundation, which again leans to the right, historical tax rates as a percentage of GDP have been quite higher than current levels.  The 30 year average rate of taxation as a percentage of GDP is 18.4%.  Even during the blessed Reagan years the percentage of GDP taken in tax revenues was well over 17%.  Right now tax revenues only take up 15-16% of the overall GDP which is actually below the historical average and the rates during the Reagan years.

Conservative may argue that President Obama will pass tax increases to change all that.  First, I would simply ask conservatives to point to one piece of legislation President Obama has publicly supported that would raise the overall tax rate over the historical average.  Secondly, even under the nightmare scenario of the Heritage Foundation President Obama's current budget would not reach the "highest" level of taxation achieved during the Clinton years until around 2060.  During the Clinton era tax rates as a percentage of GDP actually reached 20.9%.  Those Clinton years in which the country had the highest tax burdened also happened to be years with unprecedented economic growth and low unemployment.  Perhaps we should be begging Obama to raise taxes instead.  The Heritage Foundation data also assumes the Obama budget will remain unchanged for the next 50 years with no accompanying tax cuts which is a huge assumption.

Conservatives may also respond by saying even though overall tax rates are down the rich are being taxed at a higher rate than ever.  Once again historical data proves this argument false.  Historically the rich have been taxed at MUCH higher levels than the current 35% rate.  During the 1950's the rich were actually taxed at a 91% rate and during most of the 1980's the richest Americans were taxed at a rate of 50%.  The rich have an easy tax burden right now compared to the historical levels of the past.

So maybe the protesters in Illinois advocating higher taxes are actually on the right side.  Maybe the media should also start giving equal print and air time to these protests in comparison with the TEA party protests.  The facts reveal that taxes are actually relatively low right now and even under the worst case Obama administration scenarios taxes will still remain below that of the Clinton years for another 50 years.