|
i9
<br />Table 2. Per Capita Income Distributions
<br />Discussion about the distribution of income within the county is important due to the
<br />current structure of the tax code and the way the tax revenues are distributed. Currently, about
<br />61 % of Orange County's population lives within a municipality. This means that citizen will be
<br />subjected to a variety of different and interrelated taxes from different taxing jurisdictions. In the
<br />United States, all governments (federal, state, and local) collected $5.319 trillion in taxes and
<br />spent $6.177 trillion in 2016. This means that all governments collected $16,412 and spent
<br />$19,057 on a per capita basis. These taxes are used to pay for a variety of federal, state, and
<br />local government services such as national defense, roads, police and fire protection, libraries,
<br />highways, office space, paper and pencils, etc. However, not all of the $5.319 trillion in taxes is
<br />used to provide goods and services. Some of the tax dollars are used to pay interest on
<br />government borrowing at all levels of government. Furthermore, a significant portion of taxes
<br />collected are redistributed between people and governments.7
<br />Returning to the example of all government spending, of the $6.177 trillion spent by
<br />governments, only $2.6552 trillion was actually spent by the government to purchase goods and
<br />services such as national defense, roads, police and fire protection, etc. The remaining amount is
<br />transfer payments for programs such as AFDC, social security, unemployment insurance, grants
<br />7 See Appendix A for more clarity.
<br />CCM Economics, LLC Orange County Tax Equity Page 8
<br />Per Capita
<br />Income
<br />Percent of
<br />USA
<br />Percent of
<br />NC
<br />Percent of
<br />Chapel Hill
<br />Carrboro
<br />20,558
<br />71.06
<br />79.31
<br />36.41
<br />Chapel Hill
<br />56,459
<br />195.16
<br />217.82
<br />100.00
<br />Hillsborough
<br />24,567
<br />84.92
<br />94.78
<br />43.51
<br />Mebane
<br />29,134
<br />100.71
<br />112.40
<br />51.60
<br />Unincorporated
<br />36,196
<br />125.12
<br />139.65
<br />64.11
<br />Orange County
<br />36,380
<br />125.75
<br />140.35
<br />64.44
<br />North Carolina
<br />25,920
<br />89.60
<br />100.00
<br />45.91
<br />USA
<br />28,930
<br />100.00
<br />111.61
<br />51.24
<br />Discussion about the distribution of income within the county is important due to the
<br />current structure of the tax code and the way the tax revenues are distributed. Currently, about
<br />61 % of Orange County's population lives within a municipality. This means that citizen will be
<br />subjected to a variety of different and interrelated taxes from different taxing jurisdictions. In the
<br />United States, all governments (federal, state, and local) collected $5.319 trillion in taxes and
<br />spent $6.177 trillion in 2016. This means that all governments collected $16,412 and spent
<br />$19,057 on a per capita basis. These taxes are used to pay for a variety of federal, state, and
<br />local government services such as national defense, roads, police and fire protection, libraries,
<br />highways, office space, paper and pencils, etc. However, not all of the $5.319 trillion in taxes is
<br />used to provide goods and services. Some of the tax dollars are used to pay interest on
<br />government borrowing at all levels of government. Furthermore, a significant portion of taxes
<br />collected are redistributed between people and governments.7
<br />Returning to the example of all government spending, of the $6.177 trillion spent by
<br />governments, only $2.6552 trillion was actually spent by the government to purchase goods and
<br />services such as national defense, roads, police and fire protection, etc. The remaining amount is
<br />transfer payments for programs such as AFDC, social security, unemployment insurance, grants
<br />7 See Appendix A for more clarity.
<br />CCM Economics, LLC Orange County Tax Equity Page 8
<br />
|