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US Federal Revenue Since 1900

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For numbers from 1900-2018 click here.

Federal revenue began the 20th century at about 3 percent of GDP per year. It jerked above 13 percent as a result of World War I and then declined in the 1920s below 5 percent of GDP in the 1920s. Federal revenue started to increase steadily in the 1930s reaching 7 to 8 percent of GDP just before World War II.

Federal revenue exploded during World War II to nearly 24 percent of GDP, and then declined to about 15 percent in the late 1940s.

In the Korean War of the early 1950s federal revenue increased to 20 percent of GDP. From the mid-1950s to the early 1990s federal revenues oscillated at about 17 to 18 percent.

In the 1990s federal revenue increased steadily to about 20 percent of GDP It collapsed to 16 percent of GDP in the recession of 2000-01 and 15 percent of GDP in the Great Recession of 2007-09.

US Federal Revenue since the Founding

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For numbers from 1792-2018 click here.

Federal revenue in the first half of the 19th century varied typically between 2 and 3 percent of GDP except in wartime. In the 1840s, after the national debt had been pretty well paid off, revenues declined to 2 percent of GDP. In the Civil War, federal revenue doubled to 7 percent of GDP.

After the Civil War revenue gradually declined to about 2.5 percent of GDP at the outbreak of World War I. Federal revenue in World War I peaked at 7 percent of GDP and declined below 5 percent in the 1920s. Federal revenue reached 7 percent of GDP in the 1930s before rocketing to 24 percent of GDP at the end of World War II. From the end of World War II to the mid 1990s federal revenue fluctuated between 17 and 18 percent of GDP, peaking at 20 percent of GDP in 2000. The Great Recession of 2007-09 caused a significant decline in revenue to 15 percent of GDP.