Young Research & Publishing Inc.

Investment Research Since 1978

Disclosure

  • About Us
    • Contributors
    • Archives
    • Dick Young’s Safe America
    • The Final Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Report
    • You’ve Read The Last Issue of Intelligence Report, Now What?
    • Dick Young’s Research Key: Anecdotal Evidence Gathering
    • Crisis at Vanguard
  • Investment Analysis
    • Bonds
    • Currencies and Gold
    • Dividend Investing
    • ETFs & Funds
    • Investment Strategy
    • Retirement Investing
    • Stocks
    • The Efficient Frontier
  • Investment Counsel
  • Dynamic Maximizers®
  • Retirement Compounders®
  • Free Email Signup

PANDEMIC PROFITS: Washington’s Windfall

October 13, 2021 By Jeremy Jones, CFA

By Andrii Spy_k @ Shutterstock.com

Leave it to the federal government to turn a pandemic that shuts down businesses and drives Americans into bankruptcy into a way to make money. The government earned record “profits,” (a.k.a. your tax dollars), during its most recent fiscal year (October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021). The Wall Street Journal reports:

Washington has had an excellent pandemic. If you doubt it, look no further than the Congressional Budget Office’s summary for revenues and outlays for fiscal 2021, which ended on Sept. 30. The federal government has never had it so good—literally.

The budget gnomes estimate that federal receipts rolled in at a record $4.05 trillion for the year, the first time annual revenues have exceeded $4 trillion. This is not a record to be proud of—like breaking the four-minute mile. Receipts rose 18%, or a remarkable $627 billion, in one year.

Nearly every revenue stream chipped in more, except for payroll taxes, which were flat. Individual income taxes rose $443 billion, or 27.5%, to reach $2.05 trillion. That’s about 9% of the entire U.S. economy. As CBO’s monthly budget summary dryly observes, “that increase most likely reflects higher total wages and salaries, particularly among the relatively high-income workers who are subject to higher tax rates on earnings.”

Translation: The rich had a good year, but they also paid a huge fiscal dividend in taxes. Question for President Biden : Does $2 trillion qualify as a “fair share”?

Corporate income taxes also rolled in at an astonishing rate, rising by 75% for the year, or $158 billion to $370 billion. That reflects robust corporate profits, but keep in mind this revenue boom came with the current 21% top corporate tax rate that passed with the GOP tax reform in 2017. Mr. Biden and Democrats keep telling Americans that corporations aren’t paying enough, even as the corporate tax boom gives them more money to spend.

Even the Federal Reserve contributed to the Beltway boom, increasing its remittances to the Treasury by 22%, or $18 billion, to $82 billion. That’s the money the Fed earns from its vast bond holdings, which have soared during the pandemic and continue to increase despite the economy’s rapid growth of the last year. This is another reason the political class doesn’t want the Fed’s “emergency” policies to end.

For readers who still care about budget deficits—and we don’t mean anyone in Congress—the revenue boom was swamped by another record spending increase. Outlays rose 4% in the fiscal year, or $265 billion, to $6.82 trillion. That’s 30% of GDP in federal spending alone. Some of that will ebb as pandemic emergency payments expire—that is, unless Democrats succeed in making them permanent or adding new benefits as part of Mr. Biden’s $5 trillion entitlement plan.

All of this raises the question: With tax revenues coming in like a gusher, and the economy slowing from supply-side shortages, why raise taxes at all? In particular, why raise tax rates when the current rates seem to be capturing the profits of companies and the income of individuals well enough?

There’s no fiscal or economic logic to it, so the likely answer is simply to punish Americans who make more than what Mr. Biden thinks is “fair.”

Read more here.

Share this:

  • Email
  • Twitter
  • Facebook

You Might Also Like:

  • Pandemic Spending Pushes Amazon Profits to Record
  • Liz Warren’s 158% Tax Rate
  • The Fed is Slowly Strangling Insurance Industry Profits
  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Jeremy Jones, CFA
Jeremy Jones, CFA, CFP® is the Director of Research at Young Research & Publishing Inc., and the Chief Investment Officer at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. was ranked #5 in CNBC's 2021 Financial Advisor Top 100. Jeremy is also a contributing editor of youngresearch.com.
Latest posts by Jeremy Jones, CFA (see all)
  • Could Car Dealers Get Flooded with Cars Mid-Recession? - July 5, 2022
  • Despite Inflation, Best Year Ever for Vacation Demand - July 1, 2022
  • Purchases of Gaming Chips for Crypto Mining Tailing Off - June 30, 2022

Search Young Research

Most Popular

  • Here’s Why You Need a 15-Year Retirement Investment Plan
  • Why Work When Taxes Take It All?
  • Are Google, Amazon, and Microsoft About to Crash This Specialized Real Estate Market?
  • What Happens to Your Passwords When You Die?
  • Regulators' Bungled Attempts to Cut Emissions Drove Oil Prices Higher
  • Is the Great Job Boom Over?
  • RURAL RENAISSANCE: America Finds the Country Again
  • Vanguard Wellesley (VWINX) vs. Wellington (VWELX): Which Fund is Best?
  • The Power of a Compound Interest Table
  • Your Survival Guy: Clearing the Decks, Buying a Boat, Seeing the World and More

Don’t Miss

Default Risk Among the Many Concerns with Annuities

Risk and Reward: An Efficient Frontier

How to be a Billionaire: Proven Strategies from the Titans of Wealth

Could this Be the Vanguard GNMA Winning Edge?

Cryptocosm and Life After Google

Warning: Avoid Mutual Fund Year End Distributions

Is Gold a Good Long-term Investment?

How to Invest in Gold

Vanguard Wellington (VWELX): The Original Balanced Fund

What is the Best Gold ETF for Investing and Trading?

Procter & Gamble (PG) Stock: The Only True Dividend King

The Dividend King of the North

You’ll Love This if You’re Dreaming of an Active Retirement Life

RSS The Latest at Richardcyoung.com

  • Happy Independence Day
  • For Investors Who Want to Stop Worrying About a Market Crash
  • Breaking News: House Election Update
  • WATCH: New York Governor Melts Down When Asked for Facts
  • Florida Is a Refresher Course in American Greatness
  • Should You Believe Ms. Hutchinson?
  • Biden’s Economy Even Weaker than Thought
  • A Cashless Society Is A Debacle for Americans
  • Time to Save, Troubles Dining Out, and Intelligence on Yellowstone
  • Democrats Running AWAY from Biden on the Campaign Trail

About Us

  • About Young Research
  • Archives
  • Contributors

Our Partners

  • Richard C. Young & Co.
  • Richardcyoung.com

Copyright © 2022 | Terms & Conditions

 

Loading Comments...
 

    loading Cancel
    Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
    Email check failed, please try again
    Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.