Democratic Party then they have nothing better to do than "tax and spend." My Republican friends are quick to preach the doctrine of fiscal constraint especially when it comes to levying taxes. They are equally quick to label the Democrats as "big spenders."My Democratic friends, however, remind me that what one preaches on Sunday may not be how one behaves on Monday. Frequently, those that preach the loudest on Sunday are the last to practice on Monday. They tell me that the Republicans are quick to label, but a slow to produce hard evidence of a trend. My Democratic friends remind me that it is easier to talk the talk than walk the walk. It would seem that if the Democrats really do have a policy of "tax and spend" then overall Federal taxation should be higher during Democratic administrations than during Republican ones. That should be fairly easy to show.
As usual, I can't resist putting a hypothesis to the test. I found the Federal budget on www.Fedstats.gov and used the Federal Receipts as a percent of GDP (gross domestic product). This data series was chosen because it accounts for both inflation and population growth. These data are also valuable because it measures the overall tax burden and includes all taxes regardless of the type (i.e., corporate, income, tariffs). Thus, shifting the tax burden from one group to another and congress is apt to do does not affect this measure. It is also a fair measure of taxes based on the ability of the economy to pay. Data were available for the post war period (1950) until 2006.
We have heard the talk, now for the walk. The results showed that the averages were nearly identical (Democrats 18.1 percent of GNP, Republicans 17.9 percent). Statistically, the difference between the two averages is too close to call with a 39.4 percent chance of getting these results due to random chance alone. Clearly, these results do not support the Republican claim that Democratic administrations tax more than Republican administrations.
For those who find the best and worst presidential administrations interesting the lowest taxing Republicans were Eisenhower (17.5 percent of GDP) and Ford (17.8 percent) and the lowest taxing Democrats were Truman (16.5 percent) and Johnson (17.6 percent). The highest taxing Republican administrations were Nixon and Reagan (both at 18.2 percent of GDP) and the highest taxing Democratic administrations were Clinton (19.1 percent) and Carter (18.4 percent).
Needless to say, these results are a bit embarrassing to the Republican candidates, since most folks don't think to kindly about the proverbial pot calling the kettle
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