Re:Income inequality today may be higher today than in any o...
by mcguire on Saturday July 02, 2016 @07:47PM
(#12024225)
You mean the chart that shows "Current Revenues" fluctuating between 25% and 30% of GDP since 1969, after a low of roughly 20% in 1949?
I keep forgetting state and local taxes. I'm from Texas, which doesn't have a state income tax; I'm living in Alabama, which has an income tax rate of something like 4%. Both localities rely heavily on sales taxes to a typical tune of about 9% (and sales taxes are regressive, I'll remind you) and property taxes.
Chart 1 duplicates your graph's "Current Revenues" and "Current Spending" lines, while Table 1 shows total gov't receipts as a percent of GDP by (roughly) decade since 1930. In 1950, 22%; 1980, 28%; 2000, 31%; 2012, 26%.
So yes, taxes have gone up. But not spectacularly, certainly not as much as deficit spending, and probably not to the excessive detriment of the "moneyed elite".
I keep forgetting state and local taxes. I'm from Texas, which doesn't have a state income tax; I'm living in Alabama, which has an income tax rate of something like 4%. Both localities rely heavily on sales taxes to a typical tune of about 9% (and sales taxes are regressive, I'll remind you) and property taxes.
Anyway, check this:
http://taxfoundation.org/article/short-history-government-ta...
Chart 1 duplicates your graph's "Current Revenues" and "Current Spending" lines, while Table 1 shows total gov't receipts as a percent of GDP by (roughly) decade since 1930. In 1950, 22%; 1980, 28%; 2000, 31%; 2012, 26%.
So yes, taxes have gone up. But not spectacularly, certainly not as much as deficit spending, and probably not to the excessive detriment of the "moneyed elite".