Size of Government

I keep seeing a leftwing talking point–and they clearly do use talking points–that either tax rates are at their lowest in forever, or that the government is getting smaller.

The core issue with regard to taxes is: how much money is being taken out of the private sector?

The core issue with regard to government size is: how much money is the government spending? 

This should be simple, but as always the Left is able to make traps for fools through disciplined repetition.

Here are the numbers:

You will note that receipts under Obama are less than under Bush in his second term (no one disputes tax cuts take a few years to grow the tax base, and 2002-2003 were largely affected by the recession Bush inherited combined with the 9/11 attacks), since the economy has sucked for his entire Presidency, but that expenditures have gone up steadily.  You will note that we first spent $2 trillion in 2000, under Clinton, but that we collected $2.3 trillion, which is why we had a budget surplus.  Obama in his FIRST year spent $3 trillion, which is a 50% increase over Clinton and his Republican Congress.