<p>I have been looking at these charts by the Mercator think tank which describe tax revenue and tax rate as percentage of GDP for the United States.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.mercatus.org/publications/government-spending/tax-rates-vs-tax-revenues" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Mercator think tank</a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/HPRWp.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/HPRWp.png" alt="Federal revenue &amp; top tax rate" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/paqiS.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/paqiS.png" alt="Federal revenue &amp; top average tax rate" /></a></p>
<p>Is there a consensus about the relationship between tax rate and tax revenue on a global scale?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-06-22T07:03:16.790Z
Even from the limited data shown in your graph we can see that there isn't *a* tax rate but many. Your graphs show that decreasing the marginal tax rate for earners the **top bracket** did not reduce the federal tax revenue (as % of GDP), quite likely because the **average** marginal rate at the same time went up, meaning earners in lower brackets had to pick up more of the tab. So can you please clarify your question: what type of tax rate and what type of tax revenue are you talking about?
Giskard
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-06-22T07:04:56.797Z
P.s.: given the above, the labeling of the first graph by Mercator is misleading, so I would probably try to validate their data from a different source as well.
Giskard
<taxation><optimal-taxation>
Is there a consensus about the relationsship between tax rate and tax revenue?
CuriousIndeed
# Is there a consensus about the relationsship between tax rate and tax revenue?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-06-22)

I have been looking at these charts by the Mercator think tank which describe tax revenue and tax rate as percentage of GDP for the United States.

[Mercator think tank](https://www.mercatus.org/publications/government-spending/tax-rates-vs-tax-revenues)

[![Federal revenue & top tax rate](https://i.sstatic.net/HPRWp.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/HPRWp.png)

[![Federal revenue & top average tax rate](https://i.sstatic.net/paqiS.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/paqiS.png)

Is there a consensus about the relationship between tax rate and tax revenue on a global scale?

**Tags:** taxation, optimal-taxation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Even from the limited data shown in your graph we can see that there isn't *a* tax rate but many. Your graphs show that decreasing the marginal tax rate for earners the **top bracket** did not reduce the federal tax revenue (as % of GDP), quite likely because the **average** marginal rate at the same time went up, meaning earners in lower brackets had to pick up more of the tab. So can you please clarify your question: what type of tax rate and what type of tax revenue are you talking about?  
> **username_1**: P.s.: given the above, the labeling of the first graph by Mercator is misleading, so I would probably try to validate their data from a different source as well.  

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## 0 answers

