Thursday, March 10, 2011

Visualizing Taxes and Deficits II

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For the simplest visualization, deselect 'trails' and select (checkbox) the variables DEFICIT, INCOME_TAX, TOTAL_REVENUE, SPENDING

For the best visualization, deselect 'trails' under color select 'unique colors' for Size select 'IN_BILLIONS'  Select variables DEFICIT, INCOME_TAX, TOTAL_REVENUE

In any case, notice how early on, in the years following cuts in marginal income taxes, total revenues are increasing, revenues from income taxes are increasing, and the DEFICIT IS PLUNGING. All along spending is steadily incresing. Then about 2008 the deficit explodes, both in billions of dollars and as a percentage of GDP as tax revenues start to plunge. Spending also increases dramatically. 

It is also interesting to click on the barcode tab (at the top of the chart) and watch the relative size and position of the bars change with respect to revenue, spending, and deficits.

The data source is the CBO Budget/Historical Tables. I'd provide a link but it moves around constantly. Just Google it and did for it and you can find the data. (or see below)

This was produced  using the R google Vis package (for example code see here).
This is the format required for the R googleVis package. (I saved it as a csv file)

BUDGET_ITEM YEAR IN_BILLIONS PCT_GDP
CORP_TAX 2003 131.8 34.90604764
CORP_TAX 2004 189.4 45.88989817
CORP_TAX 2005 278.3 87.42060525
CORP_TAX 2006 353.9 142.5975397
CORP_TAX 2007 370.2 230.3657102
CORP_TAX 2008 304.3 667.9837559
CORP_TAX 2009 138.2 9.782782586
DEFICIT 2003 377.585 3.381560093
DEFICIT 2004 412.727 3.507495538
DEFICIT 2005 318.346 2.556790619
DEFICIT 2006 248.181 1.881156674
DEFICIT 2007 160.701 1.15429536
DEFICIT 2008 45.555 0.311849671
DEFICIT 2009 1412.686 9.313594409
INCOME_TAX 2003 793.7 7.108185563
INCOME_TAX 2004 809 6.875159344
INCOME_TAX 2005 927.2 7.446791422
INCOME_TAX 2006 1043.9 7.912529372
INCOME_TAX 2007 1163.5 8.357276253
INCOME_TAX 2008 1145.7 7.84296276
INCOME_TAX 2009 915.3 6.034414557
SPENDING 2003 2159.906 19.34359663
SPENDING 2004 2292.853 19.48545084
SPENDING 2005 2471.971 19.85359409
SPENDING 2006 2655.057 20.12474039
SPENDING 2007 2728.702 19.59992817
SPENDING 2008 2982.554 20.41726451
SPENDING 2009 3517.681 23.19146229
TOTAL_REVENUE 2003 131.8 1.180368977
TOTAL_REVENUE 2004 189.4 1.609586131
TOTAL_REVENUE 2005 278.3 2.235161834
TOTAL_REVENUE 2006 353.9 2.682483135
TOTAL_REVENUE 2007 370.2 2.659100704
TOTAL_REVENUE 2008 304.3 2.083105148
TOTAL_REVENUE 2009 138.2 0.911128692