Family Life

05.11.10 | FL News Team

U.S. tax levels hit a nearly 60-year low in 2009. According to "USA Today," figures from the Bureau of Economic Analysis show Americans spent just nine-point-two percent of their total personal income on federal, state and local taxes last year. That's the lowest rate since 1950. The average tax rate for the past half-century has been around 12 percent. The tax rate for all Americans combined has fallen 26 percent since the recession began in 2007, saving the average household more than three-thousand dollars a year. Tax cuts in the economic stimulus package, decreased consumer spending, and progressive tax rates instituted by former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were some of the biggest factors in the drop. Less tax revenue and increased government spending have helped push the federal debt to eight-point-four-trillion dollars.