RSSU.S. Government Tax Collections 1968 - 2007
In Washington, D.C. the term is revenues; everywhere else, they’re known as taxes. In 2007, the government collected $2.568 trillion from taxpayers, or $162 billion less than it spent during the same year. Unlike spending, revenues have not risen every year for the past 40 years. There was a very small decrease in 1983 during a phase-in of tax rate cuts. Revenues dropped considerably as a result of tax rate cuts in 2001 and again in 2003. However, in the last four years total tax collections have risen at the fastest pace in the past 40 years—an average of 9.5% per year.
9 Responses to “U.S. Government Tax Collections 1968 - 2007”
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June 15th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
It would also be appropriate to chart the growth in federally and state ‘mandated’ spending by the governed (state and local governments, private companies, individuals) for programs. This is a tremendous area of ‘off budget growth’ in taxation. Money that the government forces you to spend is simply another tax, with a different name. These would include:
educational mandates
health mandates (open access to emergency health care, medicaid, discounted pricing for government buyers such as medicare — all paid for by the remaining sectors, of course)
environmental mandates (cleanup, prevention, recordkeeping, capping)
land use restrictions (species protection, wetlands, etc.)
tax exemption for federal, charitable, educational, religious land ownership and lobbying.
fuel mandates: ethanol to fuel, oxygenates, etc.
performance mandates: light bulbs, automobile mileage standards, etc.
Most all are for politically desirable goals, ostensibly. But…
Each program diverts finite resources into politically expedient channels that presumably would otherwise receive differing shares of those resources.
June 15th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
What a great site. Mr. Perot and his team have done it again.
Russ
June 16th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
It would be nice to overlay this with total GDP so we could see the proportion of taxes to GDP. Then we can get a much better idea of what we can afford.
This chart tells an alarming story of its own, though; the huge, unprecedented Bush tax cuts knocked government revenue back by several years just at a time that healthcare expenses were accelerating. The surge of 2005-07 is a temporary one driven by capital gains taxes on a healthy stock market It will slow down soon enough.
June 17th, 2008 at 6:29 am
Let us not forget the illegal, direct, non-apportioned income tax that makes it impossible for the working class to save for the future. In Aaron Russo’s film, “America: From Freedom to Fascism”, he spells out the fact that many Americans don’t know; that 100% of the income tax goes to pay the national debt instead of funding government.
It is time that the wealthy owners of the illegal and unconstitutional Federal Reserve Bank are made to make reparations to the people they have been robbing for 100 years. It is time to stand up to few who live in excess while many Americans live paycheck to paycheck, being robbed of over 40% of their income just to make a few wealthy individuals more wealthy.
Not to mention the fiscal irresponsibility of simply printing more money when they need it. This sort of fraud is what is devaluing the dollar and leading the nation into this debt crisis. The gas prices aren’t rising only due to increased demand and shorter supply, they are mainly rising due to the dollar’s decline in value.
Eliminate the Federal Reserve Bank and make the people in charge of their lives and fortunes once more. If the Federal Reserve was made to make reparations this would eliminate the debt and return the people of the United States to freedom, instead of mere wage slavery.
June 17th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
I highly recommend EVERYONE interested in American Government to rent Aaron Russo’s “From Freedom to Facism” - watch it, rewind it, absorb it; vote accordingly.
June 23rd, 2008 at 6:43 pm
OK. So what do our taxes pay for? And who benefits? And what about all the other taxes we pay like sales tax, property tax, excise and other taxes on services and energy? How would the complete tax burden look on a chart compared to the wealth of the taxpayer, not the income?
It seems to me the top 1% have a whole lot to lose and their wealth is protected vigilantly by the military, police and government agencies of all stripes. (While our schools, bridges, roads, etc. are falling apart). Maybe it’s not such a bad deal for them. I’m sure they want more for less but let’s look at the whole picture. The real answer is figuring out how to stop the excessive government spending and get a return on the trust funds instead of this Mickey Mouse government ‘accounting’ that goes on in Washington.
June 29th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Adding trend lines would be very helpful. I look at the GHWB revenue trend line and the Clinton revenue trend lines and mapping those onto the current presidency I’m encouraged. On the tax side, the revenue fall at its worst brought us back to the revenue trend line of the GHWB presidency. That’s not horribly bad. And as the tax cut effects kicked in, we’ve had an explosion of revenue, likely bringing us back to the higher Clinton revenue trend lines at the close of the Bush administration while we have lower rates. All in all not bad and showing us that the problem is not necessarily on the revenue side.
June 30th, 2008 at 7:13 am
The stock market crash in 2000 really killed the revenue the government was receiving from capital gains taxes.
August 18th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Dear Mr. Perot,
Am very interested in the chart you are working on showing how much the Federal gov’t has “borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund. How can we stop the fund from future raids?
Thanks for your efforts, this website, and the opportunity to respond.
Kindest regards,
Dick Wall