HIGH U.S. TAXES???

(h/t Marc Cooper in the LA Times)

Bruce Bartlett dove into a bunch of OECD statistics and discovered that compared to many other developed countries, Americans are under-taxed. Here's the key quote:

The irony of these protests is that federal revenues as a share of the gross domestic product will be lower this year than any year since 1950. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the federal government will take only 15.5% of GDP in taxes this year, compared to 17.7% last year, 18.8% in 2007 and 20.9% in 2000.

In 2006, Ireland, the low-tax state the wingnuts love to use as a good example of what low taxes can do for an economy, the total taxes were 31.9% of GDP compared to only 28% in the U.S. In 2007, the top rate was the same for both countries, 41%.