Archive for April 15th, 2015

Nums: Who pays taxes? Who benefits?

April 15, 2015

Since it’s tax day, I thought I’d flashback to a drill down I did on the tax system —  who pays in, where does it go and who benefits …

In a prior post, we drilled down on taxes … or, as my Dem friends would say government “revenues”.

We posted that in 2012 Americans paid a tad over $5 trillion in taxes to the Feds, States and Local Governments.

Drilling down, the $5 trillion is split roughly 50%-30%-20% to the Feds, States and Locals, respectively. Note that the Federal portion is just under $2.5 trillion.

image

* * * * *
If these are “revenues” there must be matching services provided, right?

I found a study by the non-partisan Tax Foundation that analyzes taxes paid and benefits received.

The study is old – using 2004 data – but, in my opinion is a good starting point to calibrate the answer.

(more…)