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Federal Taxes paid/received for each State

by Catherine Mulbrandon on February 17, 2010

Day 16 of 28 Days of  Tax Data

Found at Visual Economics, via ChartPorn and Context.org

Two map one for tax dollars going from individual states to the Federal Government (dark red), the second for tax dollars going from the Federal Government to the states (blue). A third map would be nice showing the ratio between money in verses money out.

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More taxes collected from Employment than from Corporate Profits

by Catherine Mulbrandon on February 1, 2010

(I am starting a new series today: 28 days of Tax Data where I will be posting each day something I find interesting about the Untied States’ Tax System)

From the Tableau Software blog Ellie Fields posted an analysis last year comparing the amount collected from Employment tax (Social Security, Medicare, Federal Unemployment taxes which are taxed per employee) vs the amount collected from Corporate tax (which is taxed per dollar of profit). This is for the Federal Government only.

The first graph shows that since the 1960s the amount of taxes from employment has increased relative to corporate taxes

The second graph is plotting the % change in the different between employment and corporate taxes collected. As each recession hit (shown as thick lines of red and pink) taxes collected from employment drop faster (i.e. layoffs) than from corporate taxes (less profit).

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Visual Storytelling: Credit Crisis

by Catherine Mulbrandon on September 27, 2009

An interactive graphic from the Wall Street Journal, which takes the data for 6 key financial indicators and stacks them while rollover text annotates the main events of the crisis. Created by Andrew Garcia Phillips, Stephen Grocer and Kate Milani.

Wall Street Journal_CrisisTimeline

I think the visual display of the data is very effective however the rollover text annotations are not effective since you can’t use them to follow the underlining story in the data visualization.

While I appreciate Google Finance integrating the news story with the graphic which allows you to use the data visualization find related news stories you lose the different data series and there still is no coherent story for the graphic.

Google Finance DJIA

Still, I have found the most effective storytelling using data visualizations uses a person to narrate the story.

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Hans Rosling debunks myths about “developing world”

by Catherine Mulbrandon on September 16, 2009

From a TED Talk in June 2006. What I love is the way he uses humor to make many of his points. Other good things in the video:

  • Challenges preconceive notions people have about the subject.
  • Talks to the data and interacts with it.
  • He places the data in historical context by explaining what happened in each country.
  • The data visualization is the presentation, not just a background slide for his talk.
  • Performs research on his target audience (i.e. students) to understand what they need to know.
  • The presentation is shot from more than one camera, showing him and the screen from different angles.

Watching him I see how controlling the display from his laptop is an obstacle. What he needs a way to interact directly with the screen through touch and gesture.

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