Taxes collected per person 1800-2000 from John Stossel Goes to Washington

From the ABC 20/20 special "John Stossel Goes to Washington", a 2001 consumer report about the waste and fraud perpetrated by the Federal Government.

See the entire special on YouTube. Playlist:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=D8A096739D67DC2C

In the special, a number of areas of government involvement are examined including low-income housing, charity, Indian affairs, and foreign policy. Stossel illustrates how government intervention often exacerbates the problems it intends to alleviate. He ends by considering what the proper role of government should be in a free society.

Category:

Education

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• Taxes
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• documentary

[dannidandannikins]

It looks like an exponential growth curve. Exponential growth normally ends in sudden collapse. The USA has two options: a) continue with this kind of tax growth in which case the collapse of the US economy and state is only a matter of time or b) start cutting back on taxes and save your country.

[grraadd]

he said: $20 in today's money - including inflation.

So all sums are in inflated dollars to save you counting percentages...

[MrHhholden]

I did not say that they are incapable lf running a business, I was simply stating what I thought would happen. I am NOT a "parrot", and I would gladly look into it and decide for myself.

[1776bricks]

@MrHhholden I disagree. If you let poor people have more money, they can spend more into the economy. This argument I hear repeated like a parrot in a banker's home is faulty. Why wouldn't you want the middle class and poor to run their own businesses. What do you have against them having their own money? They aren't intelligent enough to spend it on the right things? Are you making up your own argument, or are you a parrot?

[1776bricks]

It's a lot more than $10,000 a year. We are going into debt plus paying the $10,000 a year.

[MrHhholden]

You cannot tax the wealthy anymore than the poor jobless people. The wealthy are the ones opening businesses and creating jobs(not enough right now) but you tax them more they won't be able to do that in fact most will just make MORE lay offs to compensate for the higher taxes

[kDest]

My second point:

This graph, as used by its polemicists, doesn't factor in that our annual taxes could be much lower if we raised corporate and rich persons' taxes considerably. Right now we hardly tax these groups and they hold the majority of our nation's private wealth. So, of course, WE the working poor have to pay more taxes to compensate for these other two groups' lack of civic duty and sense of entitled wealth.

If you want lower taxes, don't cut social programs, tax the wealthy!

[kDest]

We also became an empire in the 50s and beyond. That kind of military is expensive to maintain, especially when it conducts state of the art research like atomic bombs, lasers, arpanet, computers, powered infantry armor, etc. The 19th century had no space program. I mean, just consider that. Our money helps fund something that 19th century men like Jules Verne could only fantasize about. We went to the moon, and sent probes to mars, to comets, to Venus, etc. This all costs more for us.

[kDest]

Two points:

Number one, this graph is overly simplistic because it does not include what services government provided during the 18th and 19th centuries, or even the 20th. In early America there was no healthcare. If you were old, or poor, and sick, you either needed the help of friends or you were screwed. There was no unemployment for people laid off to recuperate. There wasn't the public school system that we enjoy today, which has ended illiteracy. There was no social security. Etc.

[pensword5]

@KripDrip That $20 is in todays money...adjusted for inflation...the whole chart is. Notice the comment above by "grradd"

[KripDrip]

people back then only made a few pennies! You can buy things in cents back then. Wages were much lower and prices were much cheaper.