A FEW DAYS AGO I happened to catch Melissa Francis, a Fox Business anchor, mentioning that when she first started out her state and federal income tax burden, monthly, was larger than the sum of her housing and food costs. That caught my attention, because income taxes, being withheld from our paychecks, are largely hidden from sight in our day-to-day financial affairs.

Except, of course, for that annual refund that comes from letting the IRS steal more during the year than they're owed....

So I decided to check my finances. I keep a pretty tight budget and so I know how much I spend on food, shelter, medical care, etc. Averaging over the last 10 years, my highest monthly expense, by far, is ... state and federal income taxes.

Pretty much what I would expect, given that I'm at the end of my career, not the beginning, as was with Ms. Francis at the beginning of her career, and my income is, of course, much higher. Housing (not including maintenance) was second as I recently moved have a new 15-year mortgage. Medical care was third (if I include the cost of insurance). Again probably expected, given my age. Food was last (by far) in this short list, but I expect that some of my other budget categories would be higher were I to delve a bit deeper.

Somewhat of a surprise was that taxes, shelter, and medical care took up the bulk of expenditures on the four categories I examined - about 30% each. Food, including dining out, filled out the remaining 10%.

But here is a real surprise: the burden of federal regulation amounts to a hidden tax of nearly $15,000 per household. Throw that in as a fifth category and taxes/regulatory burden would take up about 1/2 the total.

And they're hidden from view.