I suspect it's around where they were during the Clinton presidency. But I honestly don't know. And if we were making policy rationally instead of trying to demonize one side or the other what we'd be doing is trying to find that out.
As for the term Straw Man what you're saying when you says "raise taxes" is "The answer is simple". You're giving the impression that the other person just doesn't want to look at the obvious answer. My point was the tax argument is false (because we can't realistically raise taxes that high) and hence the argument that our debt is a serious problem is not a weak one.
> Your link shows the opposite. Per capita tax receipts have grown 250% over the last sixty years according to that chart.
Consistent is relative I'll grant you that. But the point is when the top tax rate was around 90% tax receipts were lower. So in comparison to our wildly fluctuating tax policy the receipts have been relatively consistent.
> How high do you think that is? Right now receipts are well south of 20% of GDP. Currently revenue would have to be doubled, but outlays typically increase and revenues decrease during a recession. If you look at the non-recession tax rates that would be needed to close that gap in, e.g., the Bush years, it would have only taken a 5-10% increase, which hardly seems as outrageous as you're making it out to be
Right now you're just making up numbers so I can't really debate your point. 5-10% of what? Income tax? Capital Gains? If you combine National + Average State debt for each American the number comes out to around $150,000 per tax payer with interest. That is not something that is going to be solved with a 5-10% increase on anyone.