Saving 101

You Think You’re Paying Too Much In Taxes?

Written by Mint.com
Published Jun 9, 2010
1 min read
The views expressed on this blog are those of the bloggers, and not necessarily those of Intuit. Third-party blogger may have received compensation for their time and services. Click here to read full disclosure on third-party bloggers. This blog does not provide legal, financial, accounting or tax advice. The content on this blog is "as is" and carries no warranties. Intuit does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy, reliability, and completeness of the content on this blog. After 20 days, comments are closed on posts. Intuit may, but has no obligation to, monitor comments. Comments that include profanity or abusive language will not be posted. Click here to read full Terms of Service.

You think taxes are bad now? Some economists have outright called that notion “nuts.” Put things in historical perspective and you’ll see why. In 2009, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Americans forked over an average of 9.2% of their income to Uncle Sam in the form of federal, state and local taxes. In 1945, Americans paid anywhere from an average of 24% (for those in the lowest tax bracket) to a whopping 94% (those in the highest). Then again, in 1915, average tax rates ranged from a measly 1% to 7%. All told, the consensus among economists is that, given the current budgetary deficits both on a federal and local level, today’s low tax rates shouldn’t be expected to last long.

In our latest infographic, we look back at average taxation rates in the past 95 years.