Tax burden on middle class families lowest in decades

April 15 inevitably makes the wallet feel lighter, but middle class taxpayers take heart: the federal government will take a smaller share of your income this year than anytime in the last 40 years.

The Washington D.C.-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports that a median family of four with two dependents will pay, at 6.8%, a smaller share of its income in federal income taxes than any year since 1957.

"Basically there have been a series of tax cuts for middle class families and there haven't been any tax increases," says Isaac Shapiro, senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and author of the report.

The Center's analysis of U.S. Treasury Department data shows the tax rate on middle class families of four, with an average income of $64,000, peaked in 1982 at...