320 likes | 426 Views
Making America Work*. Jon Forman Alfred P. Murrah Professor of Law University of Oklahoma www.law.ou.edu/faculty/forman.shtml U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE Education, Workforce and Income Security (EWIS) Speaker Series Washington, DC May 15, 2007.
E N D
Making America Work* Jon Forman Alfred P. Murrah Professor of Law University of Oklahoma www.law.ou.edu/faculty/forman.shtml U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE Education, Workforce and Income Security (EWIS) Speaker Series Washington, DC May 15, 2007 *A presentation based on Jonathan Barry Forman, Making America Work (Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press, 2006).
Figure 2. How Taxes and Transfers Improved Equity, 2004 100% 80% 60% Percent of household income Line of perfect equality Lorenz curve (income before taxes and transfers) 40% Lorenz curve (income after taxes and transfers) 20% 0% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Percent of households
Table 2. Top 5 Income Tax Expenditures, 2008 (millions of dollars)
Fig. 13. Percentage Composition of Federal Receipts by Source: 1940- 2005 60 50 Individual Income Tax 40 Corporation Tax Social Insurance 30 Percent Excise Taxes 20 Other 10 0 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 Year
Figure 16. U.S. Payroll Tax Rates: Selected Years 20 18 16 14 12 Percent paid jointly by employee and employer Medicare 10 Social Security 8 6 4 2 0 1940 1960 1980 2006 Year
Figure 18. Average Cumulative Tax Rates Confronting Low-to-Moderate-Income Families ($10k - $40k)
Figure 20. $2,000 per Worker Earned Income Credit, with or without a Phase-out
Table 3. How a Comprehensive Tax and Transfer System Would Affect a Single Parent with Two Children
Figure 23. Minimum-Wage Earnings versus Poverty Levels, 1960-2006
Figure 24. Life Expectancies at Birth versus Social Security Retirement Age
Summary—Making America Work • Government should intervene • To encourage work • Promote economic justice • Tax, spending, and regulatory proposals • Increase the size of the economic pie • Allow us to divide it more equally