Taxes and benefits over the life cycle

UM-Amherst's Nancy Folbre writes about taxes and benefits over the life cycle in the Times economix blog. She uses some data on age-specific taxes and benefits I allocated based on the 2004 NIPA tables and age profiles of utilization from the National Transfer Accounts project. She reports that it takes 17 years past age 21 for the average taxpayer to break even, by repaying governments for the net investments he or she received as a child and adolescent.