Deficit federale USA nel bilancio 05/06 concluso a settembre
scende a 260 MD$
pari al 2% del PIL; 1,5% PIL se si tiene conto dell’attivo
degli Stati ed enti locali.
È l’effetto di forte aumento tasse, effetto di espansione e
boom profitti, nonostante calo aliquote fiscali. Sarebbe la conferma della
“curva di Laffer” (meno tasse, più crescita, più entrate fiscali).
Spesa federale infatti è salita del 9% a $2,7 trilioni;
+ 49,2% in 6 anni,
ma entrate fiscali +521 MD$ in due anni, record
storico, di cui
- tasse su profitti imprese + 76% in due anni grazie a
boom profitti - imposta su redditi persone fisiche +30% nonostante
riduzione aliquota massima da 39,6 a 35%.
Dividendi +20% dopo calo proseguito per due decenni: sarebbe
grazie alla riduzione (retroattiva) delle aliquote.
Tax Tidal
Wave
October 6,
2006; Page A14
Congress
keeps breaking the Beltway Book of World Records for spending money, but the
government will soon report that the federal budget deficit for the
just-completed 2006 fiscal year fell to about $260 billion.
What’s the
secret of this deficit success that you aren’t reading much about this election
year? It isn’t spending restraint. The federal budget expanded to $2.7
trillion last year, a 9% increase, or three times the inflation rate. Over the
past six years the federal budget has increased by 49.2%.
The main
cause of the deficit decline — 90% of it, says White House budget director Rob
Portman — is a tidal wave of tax revenue. Tax collections have increased by
$521 billion in the last two fiscal years, the largest two-year revenue
increase — even after adjusting for inflation — in American history. If
you’re surprised to hear that, it’s probably because inside Washington this is
treated as the only secret no one wants to print. On the few occasions
when the media pay attention to the rise in tax collections, they scratch their
heads and wonder where this "surprising" and "unexpected
windfall" came from.
One place
it has come from are corporations, whose tax collections have climbed
by 76% over the past two years thanks to greater profitability. Personal
income tax payments are up by 30.3% since 2004 too, despite the fact that the
highest tax rate is down to 35% from 39.6%. The IRS tax-return data just
released last month indicates that a near-record 37% of those income tax
payments are received from the top 1% of earners — "the rich,"
who are derided regularly in Washington for not paying their "fair
share."
More good
news is that dividend-tax payments appear to be up as well, even though the
tax rate was lowered to 15% from as high as 39.6%. A National Bureau of
Economic Research study found that "after a continuous decline in
dividend payments over more than two decades, total regular dividends have
grown by nearly 20%" and that this reversal happened at "precisely
the point at which the lower tax rate was proposed and subsequently applied
retroactively." There hasn’t been a purer validation of the Laffer
Curve since Ronald Reagan rode off into the sunset.
As for the budget
deficit, at $260 billion it is now about 2% of our $13 trillion economy,
well below the 2.7% average of the last 40 years. Most states and localities
are also afloat in tax collections, and including their revenue surpluses
brings the total U.S. public sector borrowing down to roughly 1.5% of GDP.
Not too shabby given that we’re waging a war on terrorism and Congress spent
$50 billion last year on Hurricane Katrina clean-up.
Anyway, we thought our taxpaying readers might like
to know how much you’ve all been contributing to the falling deficit — the
best-kept secret in Washington.