How have shares of revenue from the top 1% and payroll taxes changed since 2000?

1. Payroll taxes: steady growth in dollars, stability as share of GDP

Analysts and government summaries say payroll-tax receipts have increased in nominal terms over decades and became the federal government’s second-largest revenue source, with receipts like roughly $1.3 trillion in FY2021; importantly, payroll taxes as a share of GDP rose through the mid-20th century but have been essentially flat since about 1980—generally between 5.7% and 6.6% of GDP (with short dips tied to policy relief in 2011–12) ^[1]. The Social Security/Medicare payroll structure (e.g., 12.4% OASDI split 6.2% each employer/employee, plus Medicare shares) remains central to those receipts ^{[4] [5]}.

2. The payroll-tax base and caps matter for distributional trends

Changes in who pays payroll taxes are driven by the taxable maximum and wage growth above it. The share of wages covered by the Social Security payroll tax has fallen from historic highs—today roughly 82–83% of wages are covered versus near 90% in the early 1980s—because the cap and wage growth among top earners affect coverage ^{[6] [7]}. That feature makes payroll taxes relatively regressive at the very top: above-cap earners effectively face a lower marginal payroll-tax burden on additional earnings ^{[6] [8]}.

3. “Top 1%” revenue share: sources here focus on corporate concentration, not a single top‑1% time series

The search results include multiple lists showing how much revenue the largest companies now generate—Fortune’s Global 500 firms produced $41.7 trillion last year and the top U.S. firms make trillions—indicating rising concentration among the biggest corporations ^{[2] [9]}. However, none of the supplied sources calculates the share of total national corporate or personal income “revenue” that accrues to the top 1% across the 2000–present window; available sources do not mention a consistent top‑1% revenue share time series (not found in current reporting) ^{[2] [3]}.

4. Why the two trends can diverge—and what that implies

Payroll-tax receipts are anchored to wages and to statutory rules (rates and caps) so they move with employment and wage growth and with policy changes ^{[1] [4]}. By contrast, measures of revenue or income concentration among the top 1% depend on capital income, corporate revenue growth, and how much of those gains flow to very high earners and firms; the largest firms’ revenues have ballooned in recent decades even as payroll-tax receipts remained a steady GDP share ^[2]. That structural difference means rising revenue concentration at the top can coexist with payroll taxes that do not rise proportionally unless the tax base or rates change ^{[1] [6]}.

5. What the available evidence does and does not settle

The supplied sources settle that payroll-tax receipts are large, have grown in dollars, and have been a stable share of GDP since 1980 ^[1]. They also document that the largest companies now generate massive absolute revenues ^{[2] [9]}. They do not, however, provide the specific numeric trajectory of the “top 1% share of revenue” since 2000 nor a direct comparison year-by-year between that share and payroll-tax revenue shares—those exact data series are not present in the current reporting (not found in current reporting) ^{[2] [3]}.

6. Practical next steps if you want precise comparisons

To produce the exact comparison you asked for, combine: (a) a time series of payroll-tax receipts as a share of total federal receipts or GDP from the Congressional Research Service or Treasury (the CRS brief and SSA documents above are starting points) ^{[1] [4]}; and (b) a time series for the top 1%’s share of national income or corporate revenues from distributional tax data (e.g., IRS or academic ownership/income concentration research)—those specific top‑1% revenue figures are not in the current search results and would need targeted datasets (not found in current reporting) ^{[1] [2]}.

Limitations and competing perspectives: the government and policy briefs emphasize payroll-tax mechanics and long-run stability ^{[1] [4]}, while business lists and media coverage stress growing revenue concentration among the largest firms ^{[2] [9]}. Reconciling those perspectives requires linking wage- versus capital-based measures and making clear whether “revenue” refers to corporate sales, household income, or tax-reportable income—available sources do not spell out a single definition for “top 1% revenue share” across the 2000–present span (not found in current reporting).