> A large majority of basic scientific research is funded by tax dollars.

Used to be. The US government only funds 40% of basic scientific research now.

This is due to large increases investment from private industry, which now rivals the US government even for basic scientific research in addition to funding the vast majority of other research. US government funding didn't decrease, the pie just became much larger.

NSF regularly publishes detailed reports on US R&D funding. The trend toward industry funding eclipsing US government funding started in the 1960s.

https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsb20257/trends-in-u-s-r-d-perfor...