The top 10% of earners paid 68% of federal income taxes, so in terms of dollars we could probably get rid of federal income taxes for the bottom 90% without too much trouble.<p>Of course, the bottom 90% pays most of the FICA taxes. But it&#x27;s kind of illusory to say that&#x27;s different from what the system was like in the 1920&#x27;s and 1930&#x27;s. The first Social Security check wasn&#x27;t cut until 1940, and Medicare didn&#x27;t exist until the 1960&#x27;s. Prior to that the bottom 90% paid for old age and disabled care directly by supporting their elderly parents or disabled family members directly instead of indirectly funding social security and medicare. A lot of the &quot;growth&quot; in government tax burden is those programs moving what was previously a household economy onto the government ledger.<p>And note that the article talks about federal tax receipts, not state taxes.  Direct state tax burden isn&#x27;t all that different from what it was in the 1930&#x27;s: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;taxfoundation.org&#x2F;sites&#x2F;taxfoundation.org&#x2F;files&#x2F;docs&#x2F;Chart2_1.jpg" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;taxfoundation.org&#x2F;sites&#x2F;taxfoundation.org&#x2F;files&#x2F;docs&#x2F;...</a>. And I assure you state property tax collectors were not on the honor system even back then.<p>It&#x27;s really interesting to look at where the money goes. Total federal + state spending was about 10% of GDP in 1930. It&#x27;s now almost 35% of GDP. That&#x27;s almost entirely attributable to two things: defense spending (3-5% of GDP) and transfer payments (20% of GDP): <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;fortune.com&#x2F;2012&#x2F;08&#x2F;27&#x2F;wheres-all-that-government-spending-really-going" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;fortune.com&#x2F;2012&#x2F;08&#x2F;27&#x2F;wheres-all-that-government-spe...</a>. In other words, almost all of the increase is government programs to move money around in the economy.