Lauren Silver

Structured Abstract for Article #2

02/15/2010
Title: Special Report: Who Pays Americas Tax Burden, and Who Gets the Most Government
Spendin!
Authors: "ham#erlain, Andre$% Prante, Gerald% &ode, Scott A'
Objective: Assess Americans tax #urden(amount o) taxes paid to )ederal, state, and local
overnments(relative to the amount o) overnment spendin received()or such services as
health care, education, crime en)orcement, etc'(in order to aue the extent o) *)iscal
redistri#ution+ in ,'S' tax and spendin policy' "onsiderin the deree o) *)iscal redistri#ution+ in
the ,'S' and the resultin e))ect on di))erent income roups may provide an alternative
perspective on the tradeo)) #et$een e))iciency and e-uity produced #y tax and spendin re)orms'
Data Sources: Bureau o) .conomic Analysis, ,'S' "ensus Bureau, ,'S' Bureau o) /a#or
Statistics, 0))ice o) Manaement and Budet, "enters )or Medicare and Medicaid Services, Tax
1oundation
Study Design: 2escriptive statistics calculated to descri#e the distri#ution o) taxes paid and
overnment spendin received #y -uintiles o) ,'S' households in "3 4556, $ith -uintiles ranin
)rom households $ith the lo$est 45 percent o) earned cash money income to households $ith the
hihest 45 percent o) earned cash money income )or that year'
Principal Findings: 7n 4556, Americans paid a total o) 89 trillion in taxes, $ith rouhly t$o:
thirds paid to the )ederal overnment ;an averae o) 8<=,99> per household? and the remainin
paid to state and local overnments ;an averae o) 8@,655 per household?' 1rom the )ederal, state,
and local overnments, Americans received approximately 89'A trillion ;an averae o) 89<,<5> per
household? in spendin on various services such as those listed a#ove' The amount o) taxes paid
per household to all levels o) overnment $as not proportional to the amount o) overnment
spendin received per household' The hihest earnin households received 85'6< per dollar o)
taxes paid $hile the lo$est earnin households received 8>'4< per dollar o) taxes paid' Results are
similar $hen spendin on pu#lic oods, such as national de)ense and environmental protection,
are excluded )rom spendin totals(overnment spendin received #y all households decreases,
#ut the lo$est earnin households continue to receive more spendin per dollar paid in taxes than
hiher earnin households'
Conclusions: Government taxin and spendin in 4556 redistri#uted approximately 8< trillion to
8<'A trillion #et$een American households' Given this redistri#ution o) income, #oth taxes and
spendin should #e considered $hen examinin ho$ di))erent policies a))ect di))erent roups o)
Americans'
Key Concepts: )iscal )ederalism, pu#lic oods, income tax, income redistri#ution