The United States government raises the majority of its revenue through taxation. The primary tax sources are: individual income taxes, corporate income taxes, exise taxes, social insurance taxes, estate and gift taxes and custom duties.
In the table below, we have illustrated the total revenue generated by individual income taxes compared to corporate income taxes. The amounts are quoted in billions of actual dollars (they do not account for inflation).
The numbers fluctuate from year to year, but the overall trends are very clear. Individual income taxes make up a much larger percentage of government revenue when compared to the contributions made by corporations. In 1967 for example, corporations contributed 57% of the amount paid by individual income taxes. Contrast that with the data from 2001 in which corporations paid only 15% of the amount contributed by individuals.
| U.S. Government Revenue in billions of dollars. | ||||
| individual income taxes | year | corporate income taxes | ||
 |
45.6 | 1962 | 20.5 |  |
|
47.6 | 1963 | 21.6 | |
|
48.7 | 1964 | 23.5 | |
|
48.8 | 1965 | 25.5 | |
|
55.4 | 1966 | 30.1 | |
|
61.5 | 1967 | 34.0 | |
|
68.7 | 1968 | 28.7 | |
|
87.2 | 1969 | 36.7 | |
|
90.4 | 1970 | 32.8 | |
|
86.2 | 1971 | 26.8 | |
|
94.7 | 1972 | 32.2 | |
|
103.2 | 1973 | 36.2 | |
|
119.0 | 1974 | 38.6 | |
|
122.4 | 1975 | 40.6 | |
|
131.6 | 1976 | 41.4 | |
|
157.6 | 1977 | 54.9 | |
|
181.0 | 1978 | 60.0 | |
|
217.8 | 1979 | 65.7 | |
|
244.1 | 1980 | 64.6 | |
|
285.9 | 1981 | 61.1 | |
|
297.7 | 1982 | 49.2 | |
|
288.9 | 1983 | 37.0 | |
|
298.4 | 1984 | 56.9 | |
|
334.5 | 1985 | 61.3 | |
|
349.0 | 1986 | 63.1 | |
|
392.6 | 1987 | 83.9 | |
|
401.2 | 1988 | 94.5 | |
|
445.7 | 1989 | 103.3 | |
|
466.9 | 1990 | 93.5 | |
|
467.8 | 1991 | 98.1 | |
|
476.0 | 1992 | 100.3 | |
|
509.7 | 1993 | 117.5 | |
|
543.1 | 1994 | 140.4 | |
|
590.2 | 1995 | 157.0 | |
|
656.4 | 1996 | 171.8 | |
|
737.5 | 1997 | 182.3 | |
|
828.6 | 1998 | 188.7 | |
|
879.5 | 1999 | 184.7 | |
|
1,004.5 | 2000 | 207.3 | |
|
994.3 | 2001 | 151.1 | |
|
858.3 | 2002 | 148.0 | |
|
793.7 | 2003 | 131.8 | |
