(University of Chicago Press, 1986) Barro, Robert; Sahasakul, Chaipat
We extend previous estimates of the average marginal tax rate from the federal individual income tax to include social security. Our computations consider the tax rates on employers, employees, and the self-employed; the income that accrues to persons with earnings below the ceiling; and the effective deductibility of employers' social security contributions from workers' taxable income. The next effect of social security on the average marginal tax rate is below .02 until 1966 but then rises to .03 in 1968, .04 in 1973, .05 in 1974, .06 in 1979, and .07 in 1982.
(University of Chicago Press, 1983) Barro, Robert; Sahasakul, Chaipat
The economic effects of taxation depend on the configuration of marginal tax rates. We consider here the appropriate measure of a marginal tax rate for the federal individual income tax, which has a graduated-rate structure and allows for numerous legal and illegal deductions from total income. Our conclusion is that the explicit marginal rate from the tax schedule is the right concept for many purposes. Hence, we construct approximately weighted averages of these marginal tax rates for 1916-80. When weighted by adjusted gross income, the arithmetic average of marginal tax rates is 5% in 1920, 2% in 1930, 6% in 1940, 20% in 1950, 23% in 1960, 24% in 1970, and 30% in 1980.
