Recent Federal Social Insurance Taxes

Social insurance tax collections were a little over 6 percent of GDP in 1990, and, with declines in recessions, have shown a consistent mild decline since, with 5.8 percent GDP in 2024.

Old Age Survivor Insurance started at 4.2 percent GDP and ended at 3.5 percent GDP. Disability Insurance has been about 0.5 percent GDP. Hospital Insurance has been about 1.2 percent GDP. Unemployment insurance has been about 0.2 to 0.3 percent GDP.

US Federal Social Insurance Taxes Since 1920

Collection of federal social insurance taxes began in the 1930s, with the creation of Social Security and unemployment insurance. Starting in 1936, collections for Old Age Survivor Insurance increased steadily, hitting 1 percent GDP in 1953, 2 percent GDP in 1963, 3 percent GDP in 1974, and peaking 4.3 percent GDP in 1991.

Disability Insurance collections began in 1957, reached 0.5 percent GDP in 1978, and broke through 0.8 percent GDP in 2017, and declining to 0.62 percent GDP in 2024.

Collections for Hospital Insurance for Medicare started in 1966 and broke through 0.5 percent GDP in 1073 and 1.0 percent GDP in 1981. Hospital Insurance peaked at 1.4 percent GDP in 2001, and since then has collected between 1.2 and 1.3 percent GDP.

Suggested Video: Taxes 101

Top Revenue Requests:

Find DEFICIT stats and history.

US BUDGET overview and pie chart.

Find NATIONAL DEBT today.

DOWNLOAD revenue data.

See FEDERAL BUDGET breakdown and estimated vs. actual.

Check INCOME TAX details and history.

See BAR CHARTS of revenue.

Check STATE revenue: CA NY TX FL and compare.

See REVENUE ANALYSIS briefing.

See REVENUE HISTORY briefing.

Take a COURSE at Taxes 101.

Make your own CUSTOM CHART.

Revenue Data Sources

Revenue data is from official government sources.

• Federal revenue data since 1962 comes from the president’s budget.
  
• All other revenue data comes from the US Census Bureau.

Gross Domestic Product data comes from US Bureau of Economic Analysis and measuringworth.com.

Detailed table of revenue data sources here.

Federal revenue data begins in 1792.

State and local revenue data begins in 1820.

State and local revenue data for individual states begins in 1957.

Spending 101 Courses

Spending | Federal Debt | Revenue | Defense | Welfare | Healthcare | Education
Debt History | Entitlements | Deficits | State Spending | State Taxes | State Debt

There’s More...

usgovernmentspending.com. Where you go to get facts about government. Prepared by Christopher Chantrill. email: chrischantrill@gmail.com Click the image on the right to buy usgovernmentspending.com’s ebook. It costs only $1.99 and it contains all the analyses of spending history on the website and more.

More Topics