How Much Income Redistribution?
In a “special report,” the Tax Foundation asks: “How much should the nation’s tax and spending programs move money down the income scale? Unfortunately, the basic questions needed to inform that debate have not been answered: “How much are we actually redistributing right now?” and “How would President Obama’s proposals change the amount of redistribution?”” The entire report is well-worth reading, including the many useful charts and tables, but here are the report’s five “key findings:” • Families’ share of tax burdens is compared to their share of government benefits, by income class, yielding a comprehensive measure of income redistribution. Customarily, only tax burdens are analyzed by income class. We apply this framework to President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2010 Budget released in May. • In FY 2012, when President Obama’s policies have taken effect, income redistribution from the top-earning 1 percent of families will rise by an average of $64,000 per family. Families in the 95th-99
