IN addition to the federal taxes, there are state/city taxes, social security/medicare taxes, and state/city sales taxes, not to mention various fees which are in effect taxes disproportionately affecting the poor.

Also the "all Americans" bit - does this include college students who have no income? SS recepients also with very little income? (I never understood why SS income is mostly tax-exempt though.) Is it such a travesty that someone who makes $15,000 per year only pays 7.65% (SS/Med) + 7.00% (city+state) + 8% (sales) in taxes, and 0% in federal taxes? (Actually I don't know if my example is correct. With a 15k, they would be paying federal taxes if they don't have children. If they do have children, well,.. honestly, so you want to be the poor shmuck with a full time job raising a kid on $15k a year?)

I pay a lot in taxes. I try to work the system the best way I can (use FSA for medical expenses, pre-tax commuter benefits, give to charity, contribute a lot to my 401(k)), so my gross tax rate (on earnings without any deductions) is about 28%. If I'm less aggressive with tax strategies, it easily goes up to 33-35%. Guess what? I would still rather make what I make than pay zero in federal taxes.

If you want to cut taxes, then fix the AMT. It disproportionately penalizes blue states, which already pay into the federal coffers a lot more than they get. Be angry about that. And it would be a disaster if they repeal the deduction of state/city taxes, for the same reason.