The Fed Pays More Taxes Than Half the Country

Here’s a stunning fact: the Federal Reserve pays more taxes than half the country pays.

In 2008, the Fed’s tax bill came to $31.7 billion.

That same year, according to the Tax Foundation, the bottom half of taxpayers paid a combined $27.9 billion to the U.S. Treasury. That’s 70 million tax returns.

The relationship probably grew wider last year. In 2009, the Fed paid the Treasury $45 billion.

We don’t know yet what the bottom half paid, but income taxes fell by 23% last year. It’s very possible that the Fed paid more than two-thirds of the country paid.

(Thanks to Alea for helping with this post.)

Posted by on December 1st, 2010 at 8:15 pm


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