It's not "grossly misleading." Payroll taxes are a form of forced saving--in theory, you get that money back when you draw from Social Security/Medicare when you retire. (In reality, most people will get out more than they put in.) In that way, they're qualitatively different than the income tax.
Looking at tax rates in isolation is pretty academic in any event. The real question, I think, is: what are our competitors (France, Germany, the U.K., etc.) doing? Those countries tend to lean even more heavily on regressive taxes like mandatory insurance and retirement contributions, VAT, etc.
Looking at tax rates in isolation is pretty academic in any event. The real question, I think, is: what are our competitors (France, Germany, the U.K., etc.) doing? Those countries tend to lean even more heavily on regressive taxes like mandatory insurance and retirement contributions, VAT, etc.