If we (the US) wanted to pay off the entire Federal debt, what percentage of workers' gross income would be needed?

I am just curious and haven't found the figures. The time span to pay off the debt would be one year and only wages are to be counted as income (no investment monies, etc). I am looking for how much total income is earned by all US workers in one year and what the current federal debt is.

Could we pay it off in one year or don't US workers earn enough in one year to cover the debt? This may seem like an overly simple question to those that are knowledgeable about this, but I would appreciate your input. Please use figures from 'unbiased' sources.

Thank you. Asked by marissa 34 months ago Similar questions: wanted pay entire Federal debt percentage workers' gross income needed Business > Financial Planning.

Similar questions: wanted pay entire Federal debt percentage workers' gross income needed.

Yes, and no, and yes, and sorta For starters: I'm going to compute the federal debt as $10 trillion. That includes the $5 trillion in "intergovernmental loans", i.e. Money that we've collected in Social Security and Medicare that are supposedly in a "trust fund" but which is really just federal bonds.

But we have a number of other obligations, like veteran's benefits and the real Social Security obligations after the trust fund wears out. That number is closer to $40 billion. But $10 trillion is what you get from the Treasury Bulletin, so we'll stick with that.

There are a couple of ways to compute that number. One way is to look at the GDP, which can be thought of as the sum of all money earned in the country, though it also includes corporate profits. (That's money that could be wages, and the money is owned by somebody, so somebody earned it.It's not just the kind of artificial paper profit that a stock market gains.

) The GDP is about $14 trillion. So we could pay that off in one year. About $12 trillion of that is employee compensation, and $8 billion is pure wages.

The rest is bonuses and investment income, which you would count as wages if you just wrote it out as a paycheck. So, you've got three numbers to choose from right there, and the answers are "yes, yes, no" so far. Computed in a completely different way, by what's reported to the IRS, total income is only $3.6 trillion.

That's for 2006; for some reason the IRS hasn't published the 2007 data yet but it's about the same order. That's the Adjusted Gross Income; they don't publish the raw gross income score, which is probably closer to the $8 trillion from the Bureay of Economic Analysis..

It would be a stretch, but we *could have* paid it all off in 2008. I admit, though, what I'm looking at includes more than just "worker's income. " I'm looking at the statistics for personal income for the entire nation, which includes management and retiree income.

First, let's look at the national debt. As I'm looking, the total national debt posted by the Treasury Department is as of close of business, 02/10/2009; that figure was $10,721,365,792,566.28. Now, let's look at national URL1 make things a little easier, I'll look at the total for 2008, as determined by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis.

That figure was $12,099.0 billion. (Table 2, on Page 8 of that file, if you follow the link.) In other words, if we were put on the sort of "austerity" budget that the International Monetary Fund puts other nations on, we could be looking at something like this: Income $12,099.0 billion. Payoff $10,721.4 billion.

Remainder $1,377.6 billion So, yeah.It would be tough, but we could pay off the national debt in one year. Pretty impressive, when you consider that the United States Government has never not been in debt, eh? Of course, I am presuming that the United States Government is telling us the truth.

Or, at least, the best estimate of the truth that the statisticians have. Sources: http://treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/pi/2009/pdf/pi1208.pdf Murstein's Recommendations One Nation Under Debt: Hamilton, Jefferson, and the story of What We Owe Amazon List Price: $27.95 Used from: $10.99 Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5 (based on 5 reviews) .

$1,000,000,000,000/300,000,000 citizens = $3,333.33 from each man, woman, and child. Now, what if a man is working at a couple of jobs to "make ends meet" and his wife is home raising his five children. Is he now on the hook for $23,333.33?

But he barely pulls down that much working. To answer your question, essentially, I think the answer is "All of it. " danielpauldavis's Recommendations Holy Bible: Contemporary English Version Amazon List Price: $4.99 Used from: $0.01 Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 33 reviews) Genesis 47:16-26 is how I think it's going to happen..

1 In order to properly document my answer I had to take up an answer slot. The answer, to sum it up, was "It depends on what you consider income". By the broadest measure, yes, we could do it in a year.By the narrowest, no.

But by the broadest measure of debt, the answer is "Oh, hell no, we're totally screwed. " .

In order to properly document my answer I had to take up an answer slot. The answer, to sum it up, was "It depends on what you consider income". By the broadest measure, yes, we could do it in a year.By the narrowest, no.

But by the broadest measure of debt, the answer is "Oh, hell no, we're totally screwed.

2 Thanks for the great answer Pam! I find the numbers a little disturbing. My thinking, when asking the question involved the 'narrowest' numbers you gave.

I found the comparison between the numbers from the IRS in regards to income and the debt down right frightening. It seems to me (and please share your thoughts on this), if this generation of workers realistically wanted to pay off the national federal debt, we would all need to pay a monthly equivalent to a mortgage payment on a home that cost as much as we make in a year (you can choose whether that would be a 15 or 30 year mortgage). That is a sobering thought.

Thanks for the great answer Pam! I find the numbers a little disturbing. My thinking, when asking the question involved the 'narrowest' numbers you gave.

I found the comparison between the numbers from the IRS in regards to income and the debt down right frightening. It seems to me (and please share your thoughts on this), if this generation of workers realistically wanted to pay off the national federal debt, we would all need to pay a monthly equivalent to a mortgage payment on a home that cost as much as we make in a year (you can choose whether that would be a 15 or 30 year mortgage). That is a sobering thought.

" "I have some debt,very little in savings other than 401K. Can afford to pay off my entire debt. Should I save the money?

" "Gross income vs. Net income" "I am self-employed and would like to know why I pay more federal income tax than when I was employed by a business. " "In what State do you pay the least amount of Federal and State Income Tax?" "can you deduct the entire amount of dental expenses once you have reached the 7.5% of adjusted gross income" "How much consumer (non-mortgage) debt do you have right now as a percentage of your household income? " "What % of federal income taxes do the top 10% of income earners pay?

" "Where do I find out how much to charge to manage someone's business? I wanted to charge a percentage of gross. Not sure" "Today is Tax Day.

What percentage of your income do you think you should you have to pay?

I have some debt,very little in savings other than 401K. Can afford to pay off my entire debt. Should I save the money?

I am self-employed and would like to know why I pay more federal income tax than when I was employed by a business.

Can you deduct the entire amount of dental expenses once you have reached the 7.5% of adjusted gross income.

I wanted to charge a percentage of gross. Not sure.

Today is Tax Day. What percentage of your income do you think you should you have to pay?

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.