Jan. 20, 2011, 9:17 pm:

Caleb pulled up the statements attributed to me in the Azle article.  Please note that the statement about "taxes" was not a direct quote:  Families already pay out 40 percent of their income to taxes, he said.  IF this were a direct quote I'm sure Edwin would have reported it as such.
     Frankly, I don't remember my exact words to Edwin but there were other statements in the article that were reported as direct quotes:
“We’re going to have to do what businesses and families do,” he said. “You don’t spend what you don’t have – and you don’t go out and borrow." 
“We’re not the federal government.”
“Taxpayers just can’t afford to pay any more,” he said.

     However, I readily admit that when speaking to civic groups or others, including reporters, I will often say that government takes away about 40% of a family's money.  I use the 40% figure because it is a safe, low estimate for the total cost of government on citizens.  I believe this indisputable.  I just read another article in support of this premise at Dick Armey and Steve Forbes "Freedom Works" website: www.freedomworks.org/blog/jborowski/happy-cost-of-government-day.  

Reports such as this are common.   In fact, I just did a quick google and found a reference to a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research at Boston University that placed the total average tax burden at 40%.  (I haven't read the full study, only a couple articles discussing it.)  The article I read today is on MSN's website but I read another article about the Boston study previously, don't recall where.  The MSN reference is at  http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes/Advice/YourRealTaxRate40.aspx
  
 Thanks for giving me the opportunity to respond.  Bottom line, I routinely say that the government is costing Texas families at least 40% of their money and I stand by that statement.  Phil

Jan. 26, 2011, 6:26 pm:

Thank you for the email.  Following up on my previous email:

- The BU Study - Table 2 - the average of all marginal tax rates shown in table 2 is 37.10 %. This includes income levels from 10K/year to 500K/year and ages from 30-60. This directly supports my statement. http://people.bu.edu/kotlikoff/Does%20It%20Pay%20to%20Work%20and%20Save,%20December%209,2006.pdf

- The median income for Texas family of FOUR: $66,400 http://www.justice.gov/ust/eo/bapcpa/20090315/bci_data/median_income_table.htm

- PER CAPITA cost of government in US: $17,400 http://johnrlott.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-big-is-us-government.html; http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/04/08/john-lott-federal-government-socialism-size-capita-spending-sweden-france-qatar/

- In 2010 28.6% of the nation's income went to pay for federal spending, 14.31% of nation's income went to pay for state and local spending, and 20.5% of nation's income went to pay for government regulation.  Making the total Americans spent on the cost of government 63.41%.  This makes my 40% number look VERY conservative.  http://www.fiscalaccountability.org/?content=COGD104

Again, the cost of government is extremely high and taxpayers cannot afford to pay anymore than they currently do.

State Representative Phil King

Jan. 31, 2011, 1:39 p.m.:

 I do believe strongly that government costs families more than 40% of their resources.