Between 1914 and 1980, this tax burden tripled in the United States and more than quadrupled in Europe. In France, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, tax receipts have amounted to between 40 and 50 percent of the national income since the 1980s and 1990s. Numerous studies have shown that the fiscal state’s rise in power made a major contribution to the process of economic development. The new receipts did in fact make it possible to finance expenditures that proved indispensable not only for reducing inequalities but also for encouraging growth.