Most American Receive More from the Government Than They Pay in Taxes
More than half of Americans receive more money in various types of government transfer payments (Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and Social Security) than they pay in federal taxes. The Congressional Budget Office reports that only the top 40% income earners in the US pay more in taxes than they receive in government transfers. Ludwig von Mises once noted that once we get to the point that a majority of the voting population receives more in benefits than it pays in taxes, then voters will demand more and more wealth be transferred to them through government programs. It will then become politically necessary to extract larger and larger amounts of wealth from a minority in order to subsidize the majority.
More than half of Americans receive more money in various types of government transfer payments (Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, Social Security) than they pay in federal taxes.
According to a report released this year by the Congressional Budget Office, only those in the top forty-percent income brackets in the United States pay more in taxes than they receive in government transfers.
Not surprisingly, the lowest income brackets receive far more in transfers than they pay in taxes:
In the lowest quintile (on-fifth or 20% of the total), households pay only $400 in taxes (as of 2014, the most recent data available) while receiving more than $16,000 in various types of tax-funded transfer payments.