Not only what I said above, also the Romneys of the world have arranged it so that they buy their toys, houses, restaurant tabs, vacation trips, private jets, German cars, you-name-it, etc. with pre-tax money, so in reality 13.9% is a lot more than what they actually pay (percentage-wise) than the average Joe. That's 13.9% of their income after they bought their toys/vehicles/food/vacation/lodging, etc..
Even the infrastructure that they use for their commercial interests and pleasure is funded by the lower & middle class folks. The highways and airports and federal agencies for restricting commerce to improve their income is paid for by guess who.
Read "Rich Dad Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki
http://www.richdad.com/ for a better explanation.
Robert has written some very good books on the subject and has an interesting board game.
http://store.richdad.com/Rich-Dad-CASHFLOW-101/dp/B00313NCB2 I was blown away on how accurate the results of the board game were. After playing it a number of times with my wife, I figured out what we were doing wrong with our financial lives. It dawned on me, what it was about our financial IQ, that was an obstacle. I could see the patterns as the outcome of the game (winner/loser) was always the same. I figured out which one of us took better financial risks and how to determine what a better financial risk looks like. The game is not cheap, but very worthwhile. It is a masterpiece of engineering.
His books also tell you the reality of money and how to do an honest "real" financial audit on yourself that is mind expanding. This stuff should be taught in schools, it's too important to leave to chance.
I am intuitively money-wise and successful, but this brought it to another level.
It's no accident that lawyers and business people are politicians.
Sabertooth and I may sound like conspiracy theorists but it's like the old expression "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean someone isn't following you".
Income tax was introduced by politicians to pay for wars. Initially po folks cheered because it meant that rich folks would pay more, but it wasn't long before rich figured that one out (remember they didn't get rich by being stupid) and introduced "tax breaks", "incentives for investing" and other BS ways around the "issue".