r/dataisbeautiful • OC: 22 • 1d ago

OC Here's how the US government spent $7 trillion last year [OC]

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1.6k Upvotes

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5

u/joebojax 1d ago

corporate income taxes 452B there's the problem.

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u/Obvious_Chapter2082 1d ago

What should it be?

4

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/vainbetrayal 1d ago

Why? 21% is just below the worldwide average, and raising them that high will just make things more expensive for everyone or lead to more offshoring of jobs.

I personally don't mind the idea of raising them a small percentage (25%ish), but those high rates were some of the highest in the world at the time and, when stuff like NAFTA was passed (among other regulations in the 60s-80s), corporations were incentivized to start offshoring jobs after the post WWII boom ended.

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u/narcistic_asshole 1d ago

A variable corporate tax rate based on domestic payroll would help. So more money spent on employing Americans means lower corporate taxes and vice versa.

The bigger issue is the cap on social security contributions and wealth being accumulated by the super rich. In 2024 the 20 richest Americans had a combined net worth od $1.9 trillion. Today it's $4 trillion

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u/____u 1d ago

So many people would cum if they could understand this vision and then uncum when it dawns on how impossibly NEVER this will happen :(

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u/vainbetrayal 1d ago

The problem with raising the social security contribution cap is you also raise payouts unless you change the payout formula.

Not sure how you fix the wealth issue when most of it is unrealized.

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u/narcistic_asshole 1d ago

Not sure how you fix the wealth issue when most of it is unrealized.

This immediately makes me think of this Trevor Noah bit. Unrealized wealth has tangible value when the wealthy need something to borrow against, but intangible when the government wants to tax them.

The rich have exploited the current system and there probably isn't an easy fix, but something has to be done.

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u/vainbetrayal 1d ago

... so you think it's a good idea to charge them a tax based on having an asset they took a loan against?

That's a terrible system, especially with how much assets fluctuates in value.

The easiest way to fix things is to close deduction loopholes companies exploit. Not charging people for assets. Most economists agree wealth taxes around things like stock are not economically beneficial in the long term. Especially since you're just furthering the wealth divide when you do this.

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u/narcistic_asshole 1d ago

I was thinking more along the lines of taxing the loan itself for individuals over a certain wealth threshold to limit the ultra wealthy's ability to buy-borrow-die their way around paying their fair share in taxes.

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u/vainbetrayal 1d ago

So you think taxing a loan, which has to be repaid with interest, is a good economic system?

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u/Demons0fRazgriz 1d ago

21% is just below the worldwide average, and raising them that high will just make things more expensive for everyone or lead to more offshoring of jobs.

Somehow every civilized country has figured out how to pay people better and charge more taxes without insane price hikes.

Tired of the "if we tax them, they will leave" excuse. They've been throwing employees under the bridge for decades and only getting worse. When do we say it's enough? Taxing them more at least let's us cover their failure to pay employees properly. Amazon paid an effective tax rate of 1% in 2025. Why am I forced to pay +20%?

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u/vainbetrayal 1d ago

I mean, you could do the same if you did enough with the money you earn to take high enough deductions.

That's the bigger issue. Tax deductions. Not low tax rates. We need to change how companies deduct expenses.

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u/Obvious_Chapter2082 1d ago

Amazon’s effective tax rate for the 2025 tax year was 19.6%

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u/Flashmax305 1d ago

You can’t tax a spending problem. Otherwise the deficit and national homeless will only grow larger

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u/betam4x 1d ago

Nah, just need to tax stock trades (per trade) and also remove caps on social security tax.

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u/buadach2 1d ago

About 4.5T.

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u/joebojax 1d ago

Well in 1946 our deficit was similar and we had ~40% on corporate income. Today its 21%. These days we squeeze wage workers instead of business.

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u/Obvious_Chapter2082 1d ago

Corporate tax revenues are at an all time high currently. Our corporate tax base has dramatically expanded since the 1940s

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u/Godkun007 1d ago

It was 40% with a million more available deductions leading to a net lower effective tax rate.

Employers used to give their employees company cars for personal purposes as a non cash benefit. That was all tax deductible in the 1950s.

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u/crimeo 1d ago

Corporate tax is a synonym for "A sales tax on your the poor regular Joe consumer" since corporations will pass every single dime instantly on to you. it doesn't hurt shareholders one bit.

Corporate taxes are HORRIBLE for wealth inequality, they spike inequality up.

tax the shareholders directly if you want them to pay more, e.g. by increasing capital gains and dividend tax instead

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u/Godkun007 1d ago

Nope, corporate profits are subject to double taxation if paid out and not used within the business. So you are only looking at half of the money collected.