The U.S. government gives away more than $1 trillion a year in tax breaks — subsidies for individuals and companies that are often substitutes for direct government spending.
Once written into the tax code, they tend to stick around.
Once written into the tax code, they tend to stick around.
Last year, tax breaks nearly matched income tax revenue.
The 1986 tax reform repealed or modified dozens of tax breaks, but many survived and their value has grown.
If tax breaks didn't exist, how might your taxes change?
Blue: Average increase If individual tax breaks did not exist in 2011
Green: Average baseline If nothing changed
NOTE: This analysis includes only tax expenditures reported by the U.S. Treasury.
SOURCE: Pew's Tax Expenditure Database on Subsidyscope, Tax Policy Center, Congressional Research Service, U.S. Government Accountability Office, Center for American Progress
GRAPHIC: Kat Downs, Laura Stanton and Karen Yourish - The Washington Post. Published Sept. 18, 2011.
SOURCE: Pew's Tax Expenditure Database on Subsidyscope, Tax Policy Center, Congressional Research Service, U.S. Government Accountability Office, Center for American Progress
GRAPHIC: Kat Downs, Laura Stanton and Karen Yourish - The Washington Post. Published Sept. 18, 2011.
