Tax collections from individual Americans last year reached their highest share of the U.S. economy in seven years while corporate tax revenue again lagged historical averages, a new congressional report showed on Monday.
The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) said in a review of the tax system that individual federal income tax receipts were 8.1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in fiscal 2014. That level was last achieved in 2007 before the financial crisis plunged the economy into its worst recession since the 1930s. As large companies clamor for tax code reforms aimed at reducing corporate rates, the JCT data show individual wage-earners and business owners who treat their firms' profits as personal income are bearing an increasing share of the U.S. tax burden.Meanwhile, federal corporate income tax collections were just 1.9 percent of GDP, up slightly from the past two years, but below the 2.6 percent average since 1950.
Social insurance taxes, which include Social Security and Medicare taxes collected from workers' wages, rose to 5.9 percent of GDP, well above the 4.9 percent historical average, but below the 6 percent range recorded during most of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, including 6.2 percent in 2009.
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-- Reuters