In 2024, federal, state and local governments collected a combined total of $7.6 trillion in taxes, amounting to 26% of the U.S. economy. This figure has increased from 10% of the economy in 1930. Governments also spent another 6% more of the economy than they collected in revenues, an effective tax on tomorrow’s workers and taxpayers because it must be paid back. These figures account for all types of explicit taxes, including hidden taxes. However, they don’t include the implicit hidden taxes of government social policies that shift costs to the private sector.