[jmclnx]

No, solution is to go back to a tax structure we and in the 1950s, were the very rich and corporations paid real taxes.

Starting with Reagan, taxes cuts corporations and the rich has been the main driver of the debt. And I will add to that, falling wages for the middle and lower classes based upon inflation.

[rayiner]

The tax level is about as high as it ever has been: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYFRGDA188S

[PopAlongKid]

Are you equating receipts with tax level? Tax is a rate applied to an income or wealth amount. Note that GDP includes government spending, which is not subject to tax but is based in part on debt.

https://www.pgpf.org/article/six-charts-that-show-how-low-co...

[potato3732842]

If you are in favor of more taxes nominal vs effective rates is not a can of worms you want to open. Effective tax rate was lower in the past even if the nominal was higher. SALT was amounted to basically nothing back then whereas they are far more now.

[whimsicalism]

sure but that sword cuts both ways. it is well documented pretty much nobody actually paid top nominal rates in the 50s because there were so many loopholes

[rayiner]

No. The chart shows "Federal Receipts as Percent of Gross Domestic Product"

[stvltvs]

Why choose that metric rather than income, corporate, capital gains, etc. tax rates? Seems like it could obfuscate who bears the burden of those taxes.

[rayiner]

Because we are talking about the federal debt, not distributional issues.

[s0sa]

I’d love to see a breakdown of where the tax revenue is coming from (e.g. demographics) over the same period of time.

[eqvinox]

Tax level, sure, but not tax distribution.

[whimsicalism]

real wages have been going up and the inflationary period saw a very high rate of increase in real wages particularly for low wage workers.