The Numbers: What is the breakdown of revenue among federal, state, and local governments?
Federal, state, and local revenues totaled more than $4.2 trillion in 2005. Federal revenue made up half of that total, states collected about 30 percent, and local governments brought in 20 percent. Transfers from the federal government to state and local governments and from state governments to local governments shifted the balance of resources among the three groups.
- The federal government transferred one-fifth of its revenue (one-tenth of total government revenue) to state and local governments, leaving it with 40 percent of total revenue, about $1.24 trillion.
- Almost all of the federal transfer went to the states, which in turn passed the equivalent of about 90 percent of this revenue to local governments.
- States retained just under 31 percent of total revenue, about $1.18 trillion.
- Local governments received transfers from both the federal and state governments equal to about one-tenth of total revenue, giving them a total of 30 percent of all government revenue, about $1.29 trillion, slightly more than state governments.
