Hiking Taxes to Pay for Entitlements Would Require Doubling Tax Rates

Everyone wants to know more about the budget and here is some key information with a chart from the Heritage Foundation and a video from the Cato Institute.

The cost of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security is rising substantially. Paying for this spending solely through federal income tax increases would require more than a twofold increase of current tax rates, even for the lowest tax bracket.

MARGINAL INCOME TAX RATES

In Depth

• Policy Papers for Researchers

  • BACKGROUNDER ON JUNE 27, 2008CBO’s Warning on Raising Taxes to Pay for Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security
  • WEBMEMO ON JANUARY 20, 2011Obamacare and New Taxes: Destroying Jobs and the Economy

• Technical Notes

  The charts in this book are based primarily on data available as of March 2011 from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The charts using OMB data display the historical growth of the federal government to 2010 while the charts using CBO data display both historical and projected growth from as early as 1940 to 2084. Projections based on OMB data are taken from the White House Fiscal Year 2012 budget. The charts provide data on an annual basis except… Read More

• Authors

  Emily GoffResearch Assistant
  Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy StudiesKathryn NixPolicy Analyst
  Center for Health Policy StudiesJohn FlemingSenior Data Graphics Editor