Top earners remain targets for tax increases, but the federal income tax system is already highly progressive. In 2021, the latest year with available data, the top 1 percent of income earners earned 26 percent of all income and paid 46 percent of all federal income taxes – more than the bottom 95 percent combined (33 percent).
Updated June 27, 2024
Source: Internal Revenue Service
Without reforms, spending on Medicare and Social Security is threatening even higher payroll taxes for workers.
Additional Sources: Social Security Administration
Source: Social Security Administration
If a median-income American family spent money like the U.S. government, it would have spent all of its earnings, and then put over $28,000 on the credit card in 2023 even though it was already $573,000 in debt.
Additional Sources: U.S. Census Bureau Treasury Direct
Updated February 8, 2024
Source: Congressional Budget Office
Mandatory spending and interest on the debt increase on autopilot. Congress only appropriates funds for the discretionary portion of the budget on an annual basis. Autopilot spending makes up roughly three-quarters of the budget and is growing rapidly.
Updated March 28, 2024
Source: Office of Management and Budget
Absent reform, the Congressional Budget Office projects that budget deficits will rise sharply over the coming decade. Heritage’s budget plan—Blueprint for Balance—reforms entitlements, right-sizes discretionary spending, eliminates deficits, and reduces taxes.
Additional Sources: Office of Management and Budget The Heritage Foundation’s Calculations
Source: Congressional Budget Office
Out-of-control spending in Washington is burdening each American with large and growing levels of public debt. A child born in 2023 will have a $82,590 share of publicly held federal debt upon becoming an adult.
Additional Sources: U.S. Census Bureau
Updated March 28, 2024
Source: Congressional Budget Office
