Mr. Tom Barthold
Testimony of the Staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation
My name is Thomas A. Barthold. I am the Chief of Staff of the Joint Committee on
Taxation. It is my pleasure this morning to provide a brief overview of the Federal tax system. You asked if I could emphasize the income taxation of individuals and corporations. My written testimony provides additional details and includes an appendix with further information. Members have separately been provided with several charts and tables to which I will refer during my oral testimony.
The staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation is nonpartisan and serves the entire
Congress. The staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation includes experienced professional economists, attorneys, and accountants, who assist Members of the majority and minority parties in both houses of Congress on tax legislation.
I. OVERVIEW OF THE FEDERAL INCOME TAX SYSTEM
A. Historical Federal Receipts by Source
Figure 1 below shows aggregate Federal receipts by source for 2011. The individual
income tax is the largest source of Federal revenue, comprising 47.1 percent of the total Federal revenues, while social insurance (employment) taxes1 are the second largest source of revenue at just over 35.3 percent. No other single source constitutes more than ten percent of Federal
revenue.