1. 1 Making America Work* Jon Forman Alfred P. Murrah Professor of Law University of Oklahoma www.law.ou.edu/faculty/forman.shtml U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE Education, Workforce and Income Security (EWIS) Speaker Series Washington, DC May 15, 2007 *A presentation based on Jonathan Barry Forman, Making America Work (Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press, 2006).

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6. 6 Table 1. Average Annual Earnings of Full-time Workers, 2004 Doctors$128,689 Lawyers 105,716 Economists 71,672 Nurses 53,289 Police 50,063 Auto mechanics 38,967 Secretaries 32,349 Garbage collectors 31,284 Orderlies 20,959 Waiters and waitresses 8,789

7. 7 Figure 5. Distribution of Earnings, 2004

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15. 15 Table 2. Top 5 Income Tax Expenditures, 2008 (millions of dollars) ProvisionRevenue Effect Exclusion of employer contributions for medical insurance premiums and medical care $160,190 Deductibility of mortgage interest on owner- occupied homes 89,430 Accelerated depreciation of machinery and equipment 64,670 Capital gains (except agriculture, timber, iron ore, and coal) 51,960 Employer plans 48,480

16. 16 Fig. 13. Percentage Composition of Federal Receipts by Source: 1940- 2005 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 1940195019601970198019902000 Year Percent Individual Income Tax Corporation Tax Social Insurance Excise Taxes Other

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19. 19 Figure 16. U.S. Payroll Tax Rates: Selected Years 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 1940196019802006 Year Percent paid jointly by employee and employer Medicare Social Security

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21. 21 Figure 18. Average Cumulative Tax Rates Confronting Low-to-Moderate-Income Families ($10k - $40k)

22. 22 Figure 19. Rates in a Comprehensive Tax and Transfer System

23. 23 Figure 20. $2,000 per Worker Earned Income Credit, with or without a Phase-out

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25. 25 Pre-transfer Earnings plus Universal Grants plus Worker Credit less Tax Imposed Equals After- tax Income 0$6,000 0 0 $5,000$6,000$1,000 $11,000 $10,000$6,000$2,000 $16,000 $20,000$6,000$2,000 $4,000 $24,000 $30,000$6,000$2,000 $6,000 $32,000 $40,000$6,000$2,000 $8,000 $40,000 $50,000$6,000$2,000 $10,000 $48,000 $100,000$6,000$2,000 $27,500 $80,500 $150,000$6,000$2,000 $45,000$113,000 $200,000$6,000$2,000 $62,500$145,500 Table 3. How a Comprehensive Tax and Transfer System Would Affect a Single Parent with Two Children

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27. 27 Figure 23. Minimum-Wage Earnings versus Poverty Levels, 1960-2006

28. 28 Figure 24. Life Expectancies at Birth versus Social Security Retirement Age

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30. 30 Figure 26. Hypothetical Accumulations – 2005 Dollars

31. 31 Figure 27. Hypothetical Accumulations - % of Final Wage

32. 32 Summary—Making America Work Government should intervene –To encourage work –Promote economic justice Tax, spending, and regulatory proposals –Increase the size of the economic pie –Allow us to divide it more equally