Dataviz by Sunlight

What does tax lobbying look like in the 112th Congress?

Our visualization of the vast network of tax lobbying clearly shows clusters emerging around different sectors of the economy. We detect at least 15 distinct lobbying clusters. The densest thickets of activity center around: electricity generation; renewable energy; finance; and the high-tech industry.

Will Your Paycheck Fall Off The Fiscal Cliff?

The Fiscal Cliff is a collection of Federal tax and spending changes that will affect the tax liability of nearly everyone in America. In payroll, potential increases in withholding percentages and the number of allowances you can claim for your tax situation will directly affect your take home pay.

The 47 Percent, In One Graphic

Mitt Romney’s comments regarding the 47 percent of Americans who pay no income tax is getting lots of attention today. Our colleague Mark Memmott explains the context.

Here’s a closer look at the numbers.

Putting Romney’s tax returns in presidential context

The controversy over what’s hiding in Mitt Romney’s unreleased tax returns continues. But even without the missing filings, putting his 2010 and 2011 tax numbers in context is strikingly informative. It dramatically shows what an outlier Romney is on a few basic tax and income dimensions.

Presidential Tax Returns

Individual income tax returns — including those of public figures — are private information, protected by law from unauthorized disclosure. Indeed, the Internal Revenue Service is barred from releasing any taxpayer information whatsoever, except to authorized agencies and individuals.

How We Pay Taxes: 11 Charts

I’ll come right out and say it: Taxes are awesome.

Yes, awesome. If you care about national values, or the relationship of citizens to their government, or the way we choose to award and discourage behavior, there is nowhere better to start than the gnarled and fascinating world of levies and tax breaks. Tax week gives American families a reason to consider moving to Bermunda, but it also gives me an excuse to spend the day finding my favorite, most controversial, and most illuminating graphs about taxes. Here they are. If you’ve think I’ve picked the wrong ones, or if you’ve got a better chart yourself, leave it in the comment section. I’m rounding up your favorite tax graphs tomorrow.

Tax fairness: an interactive infographic

Explore the Federal Income Tax and its effects – adjust tax brackets and deductions and vote on new proposals. We’ll send the most popular plans to Congress!

Explainer: Herman Cain’s 999 Tax Plan - Is it Really That Simple?

Herman Cain has been getting a lot of attention lately, not least for his “9-9-9” tax plan. (Not “6-6-6”, as Bachmann has devilishly suggested.) He explains the plan on his website with short, sharp bullet points, but most of the fine print is still a mystery.

The U.S. tax code has become extremely complex over the years. At Reason.com, Jacob Sullum said that while the instructions for filling out Form 1040 took up only two pages 75 years ago, “they’re 179 pages long this year.” Cain’s plan, as it has been presented, would replace the entire existing tax code in three steps.

Visualizing how Taxes are Spent with a Radial Bubble Tree

While the “Where Does My Money Go” project, initiated a few years ago, might already be well-known for some readers, it is still useful to note it is regularly updated with some new visualization techniques.

In particular, Gregor Aisch, graphic designer and visualisation architect and known from projects like Europe’s Energy and Plagiarism in the PhD thesis of a German politician, has been busy fine-tuning the radial bubble chart technique, of whicjhthe ‘old’ version is stil used in the Where Does My Money Go website.

grantcuster:

The New York City Tax Receipt I did web design for is now live! Worked with Alec out of Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer’s Office. We took a lot of inspiration from the wonderful White House Federal Taxpayer Receipt. It was a lot of fun to think about how to make all the information approachable (and for a cause I believe in!). Hopefully I’ll post some thoughts on the process in the next few days.

Taxable Income and Taxes Paid: 1950-2006

A large part of personal income is not considered “taxable” income by the IRS. In the graph personal income (as calculated by the Bureau of Economic Analysis) is around 80% of GDP. This includes all employee compensation + after tax business income + rent + interest + other income but no capital gains. However, the taxable income is around 30-40% of GDP (but it does add back capital gains as well as employee share of payroll taxes).

nlnnet:

Government spending

Google’s Data Viz Winner Shows How Your Tax Dollars are Spent

Just in time for tax day here in the U.S., Google’s Data Viz Challenge, a five-week developer competition, ended and the Grand Prize winner announced. The winning entry is called simply “Where Did My Tax Dollars Go?” and was created by Anil Kandangath. The Google-sponsored contest asked developers to use data visualization techniques to demonstrate how our federal income tax dollars are being spent. Over 40 developers submitted entries that offered everything from pie charts to bar graphs and more in order to make this complex data more accessible and understandable by everyday taxpayers.

thenewrepublic:

Jonathan Cohn wants Congress to raise his taxes.

Happy Tax Day. And I mean that sincerely. I don’t like parting with my money any more than you do. But I like what my tax dollars buy. Public schools. Safe food and consumer products. National security. The post office. Guaranteed income and health insurance for my aging parents, plus (soon) a guarantee of health insurance for my immediate family.