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Source? The first couple of graphs here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_tax_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_tax_in_the_United_St

• dragonwriter 9y ago
  If you just look at federal income tax (not payroll tax which is stacked on top of it, and not state and local taxes on top of that), the long term trend is downward since the end of WWII.
  • arkis22 9y ago
    It makes complete sense to not ignore them though.
    • dragonwriter 9y ago
      State and local taxes have nothing to do with the federal deficit, so excluding them is obviously correct when talking about the federal deficit. Social Security is the bulk of payroll taxes, and most of the increase in payroll taxes, and remains self-funded (though that would cease to be the case if the trust fund was to be exhausted and full benefits maintained.) So it makes sense to exclude that. But payroll tax also includes Medicare taxes (the payroll tax portion, not the additional income tax portion on certain income not subject to payroll a tax imposed under the ACA) as amuch smaller component, and while Medicare Part A is self-funded, Parts B and D have significant general revenue contributions as well. But Medicare payroll tax hasn't changed significantly (and the share of GDP subject to it has dropped as returns move out of labor and into capital), so if you kept it in but split out Social Security for the reason above, it wouldn't change the declining trend shown by income taxes (except to enhance it). So, again, the federal deficit is driven by declining federal income tax share.
• deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]