The newest data on effective federal tax rates has been released by the Congressional Budget Office:

http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index...ence=0#table1A

Some selected comparisons between 2000 and 2001:
Total Effective Federal Tax Rate
Lowest Quintile: a reduction of 16%
Highest Quintile: a reduction of 4%

Top 5%: a reduction of 3%

Effective Individual Income Tax Rate
Lowest Quintile: an increase of 22%
Highest Quintile: a reduction of 7%

Top 5%: a reduction of 4%

Effective Social Insurance Tax Rate
Lowest Quintile: an increase of 1%
Highest Quintile: an increase of 13%

Top 5%: an increase of 18%

Effective Corporate Income Tax Rate
Lowest Quintile: a decrease of 40%
Highest Quintile: a decrease of 22%

Top 5%: a decrease of 17%

Effective Excise Tax Rate
Lowest Quintile: an increase of 9%
Highest Quintile: no change

Top 5%: no change

The data also shows that throughout the 90's, the total federal effective tax rates for the middle and lower quintiles generally decreased an average of 1% while the total effective tax rates for the upper quintiles (fourth and fifth) increased 1.4%.

In conclusion, the middle and lower quintiles continued to enjoy tax relief from 1992 through 2001, while the upper quintiles recouped some of their increases of the 90's in 2001.

Though it doesn't yet have data for 2001, this study shows the increasing share of the federal government's tax burden paid for by the upper quintiles.

__________________
In this country, we don't need reasons to make things legal; we need reasons to make things illegal. - Startup

Your numbers are interesting; they seem to go against popular contentions.

If the consumption tax were to pass, this would be a non-issue. Wouldn't that be nice?

__________________


The best daily political cartoons can be found here:

http://www.csmonitor.com/commentary/index.html

There should be an air of caution when reviewing the numbers, though. Bush's tax cuts began in mid 2001 but their full effect probably wouldn't be noticeable until 2002-2003. It will be interesting to see if the trend continues.

Regarding the consumption tax, <sigh> I can only hope and pray for the day.

__________________
In this country, we don't need reasons to make things legal; we need reasons to make things illegal. - Startup