FYI, NC tax rates:
http://www.dor.state.nc.us/taxes/individual/rates.html
Most pay 6% on most of their income. Married taxpayers will pay 7% on taxable income in excess of $21250 up to $100,000. The max rate is 8.25%.
The NC standard deduction is $6000 (instead of $10000 federal). The NC personal exemption is $2500 per head (instead of $3200 per head). A family of 4 will have a combined deduction (standard deduction plus 4 personal exemptions) of $16000.
Looking at a hypothetical family of 4 with total income of $60000, they would pay $2867.50 in NC state income taxes or an effective rate of 4.8%. If this family could make $8,000 in deductible contributions to retirement plans like an IRA or 401k, then their NC tax would be $2307.50, or an effective rate of 3.8%.
What about property taxes? My house property tax was $1307 for my pretty average house that is typical of what many middle class and working class folks live in. That is 2.2% of the hypothetical family's income. Car taxes, fees, registration, inspection, etc? Maybe another $300/yr for two average, middle class cars, or 0.5% of their income.
Sales tax varies from 2% on food to 7% on almost everything else to 8% on food from a restaurant. Gas taxes are significantly higher on a percentage basis (~20%?), but make up a small portion of total expenditures. Let's say a 5% average rate on $30,000 of expenditures per year. Or 2.5% of their total income.
And the "biggie" - federal income tax - $4880 minus $2000 in child tax credits leaves us with a total federal income tax burden of $2880, or an effective rate of 4.8%. If this family could make $8,000 in deductible contributions to retirement plans like an IRA or 401k, then their federal income tax would be $1680.00, or an effective rate of 2.8%.
Payroll/FICA taxes of 7.65% (or you can redo my math by using 15.3% if you like, but then you must include the extra 7.65% in FICA as income, and recalculate the percentages for all other taxes).
All other taxes, fees, miscellaneous government "gotchas", let's be generous and say 2% of the hypothetical family's budget ($1200). This catchall includes the fees and taxes on phone bills, cable, driver's licenses, etc and everything else this gross analysis has neglected to itemize.
I get an effective tax rate of 24.5%. If the family can contribute $8000 to a 401k or IRA, their effective tax rate decreases to 21.5%.
Now if you want to include all your ridiculous "expenses required to earn income" like clothes and food and Tivo and the wall street journal and koolaid and the Internet and underwear, then your tax rate will increase some. Depending on the extent of your expenditures. But for the "average" family, it just isn't 50-60% or anywhere near that much. State tax rates for income, property, and sales are obviously going to vary significantly from state to state. But all states get their revenue from somewhere, and the total tax burdens don't vary by huge amounts.