Data on the Distribution of Federal Taxes and Household Income
April 2009

Current Estimates  pdf  data

This page contains CBO's most recent estimates of federal effective tax rates (taxes as a percentage of income) across household income groups for the four largest sources of federal revenues--individual income taxes, social insurance (payroll) taxes, corporate income taxes, and excise taxes--as well as the total effective rate for the four taxes combined. The page also contains estimates of average before- and after-tax household income, counts of households, and shares of taxes, income, and households for each income group; information relating to the methodology used to construct the estimates; supplementary estimates for different household types; and a comparison of income and payroll taxes.

Historical Effective Federal Tax Rates and Income, by Income Category (1979-2006)

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Effective Tax Rates  pdf  data

Share of Taxes Paid  pdf  data

Average Before-Tax Household Income  pdf  data

Average After-Tax Household Income  pdf  data

Shares of Before-Tax Income  pdf  data

Shares of After-Tax Income  pdf  data

Income Ranges for Each Income Class  pdf  data

All of the Above Information  pdf  data

Methodology

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Data Sources and Assumptions  pdf

Issues to Consider for Distributional Analysis (CBO Director’s Blog, December 2007)

Effective Tax Rates: Comparing Annual and Multiyear Measures (January 2005)

Supplementary Information

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Additional Data on Sources of Income and High-Income Households, 1979-2005  pdf  data

Distribution of Income and Taxes by Type of Household (1979-2006)

• Households with Children  pdf  data
• Elderly Households  pdf  data
• Nonelderly, Childless Households  pdf  data

Households Paying More in Payroll Taxes Than Income Taxes (2006)  pdf  data

Median Before-Tax and After-Tax Household Income, 1979-2006  pdf  data

Sources of Income by Income Category, 1979-2006  pdf  data