I would like to know how much revenue the US Collects in the form of
sales taxes, tarrifs, and income tax as a percent of GDP.  I would
like to see the information graphed as far back as the data is
available.

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Request for Question Clarification by omnivorous-ga on 30 Jul 2004 08:09 PDT

Papabjoe --

Could you please clarify who it collecting government is?  The U.S.
federal government collects almost no sales tax -- those are reserved
for the states.  The federal government collects tarrifs, excise
taxes, fees & penalties, personal and corporate income taxes.

So, are you concerned about TOTAL tax burden (including state & local)
or only FEDERAL revenues?

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

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Clarification of Question by papabjoe-ga on 30 Jul 2004 11:55 PDT

Yes, the "total tax burden" including state and local is what I am
after.  However, it would be nice to see a distinction between federal
revenues vs. all others.

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 30 Jul 2004 12:14 PDT

The first chart in this OECD publication:


http://www.oecdwash.org/NEWS/LOCAL/oecd_dyk2004_taxation.pdf


shows the tax collected in the US amounts to just under 30% of GDP.

I believe this reflects TOTAL taxes -- federal and local, income tax,
sales tax, etc -- but I haven't been able to confirm this yet.

Is this the sort of data you're looking for?

pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by papabjoe-ga on 30 Jul 2004 15:23 PDT

Yes this is the type I am looking for.  But I do need the total burden
as discussed initially.  I need to be sure that the data includes but
distinguishes between both federal and local taxes.  For example, if
we say that the total burden of the gdp equals 42 %.  How much of the
burden is federal and how much is state and local?

Papabjoe --

There are some excellent resources for historic taxes online.  There
are two that I commonly use, though they measure difference tax
levels.

One is the Tax Policy Institute, which is co-sponsored by the
Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute:
Tax Policy Center
Tax Facts
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/TaxFacts/tfdb/TFTemplate.cfm?topic2id=20

This chart, which is also available on the page in PDF and Excel
formats, has the Federal taxes as a percentage of GDP from 1934-2002,
with estimates through 2008.  It includes Social Security:
"Historical Source of Revenue as Share of GDP" (Feb. 3, 2003)
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/TaxFacts/TFDB/TFTemplate.cfm?Docid=205

You'll find 1998 state & local taxes compared to federal taxes on the
Tax Policy Institute page here:
"Revenue by Government Level 1998," (May 2, 2001)
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/TaxFacts/TFDB/TFTemplate.cfm?Docid=202

For a long-term look at state & local taxes, you'll want to see the
Urban Institute's
Numbers from 1968 to 2003 in this document.  The chart with state &
local tax revenues as a percent of GDP is on page 1:
Urban Institute
"State and Local Receipts and the Business Cycle," (Carasso &
Steuerle, March 1, 2004)
http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/1000623_TaxFacts_030104.pdf

---

There's another interesting way to look at tax burden, which
approximates the measure that you're seeking and is trackable over
long periods of time.  It's done by the Tax Foundation and aggregates
all taxes to establish a "tax freedom day":
http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxfreedomday.html

The detailed report includes details on federal and state taxes:
Tax Freedom Day
Special Report (April, 2004)
http://www.taxfoundation.org/sr129.pdf

Google search strategy:
"Brookings Institution" + taxes
state local taxes GDP
"tax foundation" + "tax freedom day"

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

I expected to receive the finished product.  What I got were a series
of links pointing me to the peices of the finished product.  Not that
big of a deal, but not five stars.