Among developed nations, Americans’ tax bills are below average
Tax burdens in the U.S. are lower than most of its developed-nation peers – in some cases, well below.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Drew DeSilver
Senior Writer/Editor
Drew DeSilver is a senior writer at Pew Research Center.
Publications
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A closer look at who did (and didn’t) pay U.S. income tax in 2015
Taxpayers with incomes of $200,000 or more paid well over half (58.8%) of federal income taxes, though they accounted for only 4.5% of all returns filed (6.8% of all taxable returns). By contrast, taxpayers with incomes below $30,000 filed nearly 44% of all returns but paid just 1.4% of all federal income tax.
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5 facts about government debt around the world
Public debt has increased sharply in many countries in recent years, particularly during and after the Great Recession.
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Congressional productivity is up – but many new laws overturn Obama-era rules
This Congress has passed more substantive bills so far in its session than any since 2007 – though nearly a third of them were to undo Obama-era rules.
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Most Americans unaware that as U.S. manufacturing jobs have disappeared, output has grown
Although manufacturing jobs have fallen over the past three decades, improved productivity has kept manufacturing output rising – contrary to what many Americans believe. But over the past few years, productivity growth has been sluggish at best.
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U.S. House seats rarely flip to other party in special elections
Special elections to the U.S. House of Representatives tend to be low-turnout events, historically speaking, and seldom result in seats switching from one party to another.
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People’s views of their national economies don’t always square with data
Many Europeans, Japanese and Americans feel better today about their nations’ economies than they did before the financial crisis, according to a new global survey by Pew Research Center. But those public sentiments aren’t always aligned with a nation’s actual economic performance.
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U.S. job openings at record high levels
In April, there were more than 6 million nonfarm job openings, according to the federal government’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.
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Trump’s nominees have already faced a large number of cloture votes
The president has been slow to nominate people to fill key posts, and most of those he has named have had to overcome the cloture hurdle before being confirmed.
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Q&A: Political polls and the 2016 election
Courtney Kennedy of Pew Research Center, who chaired survey researchers organization AAPOR’s task force on political polling in the 2016 U.S. elections, discuss the group’s findings and recommendations.
