That's true, but states collect a lot of tax revenue themselves. In 2022 they collected $3.66 trillion.[0] the federal government collected $4.97 trillion in th

That's true, but states collect a lot of tax revenue themselves. In 2022 they collected $3.66 trillion.[0] the federal government collected $4.97 trillion in the same timeframe.[1] Also note (a few rows down the table)[2] that the US government spends more than it collects in taxes. In 2022 the expenditures added up to $9.64 trillion. Sure, it's not 2%. It's 3.6% instead. [0] https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/20240607/html/f107.htm https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/20240607/html/f10... [1] https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/20240607/html/f106.htm https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/20240607/html/f10... [2] https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/20240607/html/f105.htm https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/20240607/html/f10...