A Modest Proposal: Limiting the Franchise

[Lemur]

Do you pay tax as a lump sum in the US?

Not really, no. The most common forms of taxes owed:

• Property tax for any real estate you own/co-own. This goes to local schools and government, not the state. Paid directly to the county or township.
• Sales tax for anything you sell in-state. This goes to the state government and is owed quarterly. (I never had to deal with this until my wife invented and started selling health bars for athletes.) This does not include services, which fall under W-9 contractor income, so your accountant doesn't owe sales tax on her services, nor does a carpenter, etc.
• State income tax. Paid directly to the state, owed annually.
• Federal income tax. Paid directly to the feds, and owed annually.
• LLC and/or corporate taxes are owed quarterly to both the feds and state. If you operate any sort of business you probably have to deal with this, unless you are an LLC "disregarded entity" or a sole proprietorship.

And for all of this, unless you have studied accounting and tax law, it is generally better to pay a little money to have a CPA handle the nitty-gritty, if only because this obligates the CPA to represent you if the IRS ever comes sniffing 'round your door.

-edit-

We get taxed before we even recieve the money into our bank accounts.

If your only income is salary, in other words, if your only source of money is a job you do for a company, then your situation will be pretty similar. Payroll tax, SS tax, FICA, all of that will be withheld from your paycheck. Assuming you configure your withholdings correctly, you can expect money back at the end of the year. But for entrepreneurs, the self-employed and so forth, it's a lot more complicated.