And the U.S. goobermint still ran a multiTrillion dollar deficit

Americans Spent More on Taxes Last Year Than on Food, Health Care, Education, and Clothing Combined.

Yikes. New consumer spending data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provides some sobering perspective on how much Americans are paying in taxes. The data covers consumer spending across a wide variety of categories in 2021. Overall, taxes accounted for about 25 percent of average consumer spending.

The BLS measures spending per “consumer unit,” which it describes as “either (1) all members of a particular household who are related by blood, marriage, adoption or other legal arrangements; (2) persons living alone or sharing a household with others or living as a roomer in a private home or lodging house or in a permanent living quarters in a hotel or motel, but who is financially independent; or (3) two or more person living together who use their income to make joint expenditure decisions.”

On average, each “consumer unit” paid more than $16,000 in taxes last year. This outpaces average spending on food, clothing, education, and health care combined.

The mean for total spending per unit on health care, food, education, and clothing was $16,721.42. This included an average of $8,289.28 on food, $5,451.61 on health care, $1,226.14 on education, and $1,754.39 on apparel.

The mean for total spending per unit on taxes was $16,729.73. This included $8,561.46 in federal income tax, $2,564.14 in state and local income taxes, $2,475.18 in property taxes, $5,565.45 in Social Security deductions, and $105.21 in other taxes, offset by an average stimulus payment of $2,541.71.

In addition to this disturbing tidbit, the new BLS data contains a wealth of other information on American spending habits and offers an interesting glimpse at recovery—and inflation—during the second year of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Average annual expenditures for all consumer units in 2021 were $66,928, a 9.1-percent increase from 2020,” BLS reports. “During the same period, the Consumer Price Index…rose 4.7 percent, and average income before taxes increased 3.7 percent.”

The highest expenditure category was housing, at an average $22,623.55 per consumer unit (including property taxes). Major spending categories aside from housing, food, health care, education, and clothing included transportation ($10,961.18), utilities/fuels/public services ($4,223.49), entertainment ($3,567.89), household operations ($1,638.42), and personal care products and services ($770.51).

Spending was up last year in all sorts of categories that had been depressed by the pandemic in 2020. For instance, spending on entertainment was up nearly 23 percent over 2020 and up 15.5 percent from 2019.

The average spending per consumer unit on alcohol was $553.77, up 15.9 percent over 2020 (but still below 2019 levels). “The increase was driven by alcohol away from home spending, up 69.4 percent, which was offset by a decrease in alcohol at home spending, down 7.9 percent,” the BLS reports.

Overall, spending was up across all income categories. The highest quintile of earners had the most increase in spending (up 11.6 percent), while the second-lowest quintile had the smallest increase (up 4.6 percent). “In each quintile, the increase in total spending outpaced the increase in income,” notes the BLS. “Overall average annual income before taxes rose 3.7 percent in 2021, while expenditures increased 9.1 percent.”

Income rose between 3 and 4 percent for the top three income groups but just 0.6 percent for the second lowest income group. It decreased 0.4 percent for the bottom quintile.