WASHINGTON, MARCH 14,
2007-Want to see how much the typical household will pay in
taxes in the years ahead? Did you realize corporate income
taxes doubled in four years? Or that, even with a war on, we spend
less on defense than in the 1970s and '80s?
These and other budget and tax trends affecting ordinary Americans
are tracked in the updated "Federal Revenue
and Spending: A Book of Charts," an invaluable online resource
from The Heritage Foundation.
Simply go to heritage.org/research/features/budgetchartbook/index.cfm
to view 36 upgraded charts and graphs, prepared by
researchers at Heritage's Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies
and the Washington think tank's Center for Data Analysis.
"Users can trust this as a go-to
resource for just about any detail on current, historical and
projected spending and taxes," says Alison Acosta Fraser, director
of the Roe Institute. "They can quickly and clearly see the urgent
need for budget and spending reform."
The Book of Charts is a mother lode of
information for reporters, commentators, members of Congress and
their staffs, students of public policy, netroots activists-anyone
concerned about the mounting fiscal crisis and how it evolved over
more than 40 years.
Among new features are sobering charts
showing how:
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The tax burden will reach new highs
even if tax cuts now set to expire are extended.
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Defense spending droops below the
historical average, despite the War on Terror.
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Congress larded on an astonishing
34,616 pork projects over just three years-until slashing
"earmarks" by 73 percent in the face of taxpayers' ire.
With more than 280,000 active members
and donors, The Heritage Foundation is the most broadly supported
public policy research institute in the country. The 34-year-old
institution has a staff of nearly 200 and an annual budget of $46
million.