How do government programs affect the distribution of income in the United States?

The U.S. government significantly redistributes income from higher- to lower-income households through taxes and transfers. The U.S. distribution of household income before taxes and transfers are taken into account is substantially less equal than the distribution after taxes and transfers. Without government redistribution, the lowest 20 percent of households in 2015 would have received only 3.7 percent of total income. With redistribution, they received 7.3 percent, about twice as much. In fact, nearly all the reduction in U.S. income inequality is attributable to transfer payments.