Today is Tax Day – Where Do My Taxes Go?

Tax Day 2013 Bar Chart

After heroic feats of arithmetic and a your-guess-is-as-good-as-mine interpretation of opaque rules and guidelines, millions of Americans will file their taxes by today, April 15. But where does all that money actually go? This simple chart breaks down each income tax dollar – to the tenth of a penny.

We don't stop there, though. We'll write you a personalized tax receipt. Enter how much you paid in income taxes, and we'll show exactly how much you personally contributed to things ranging from the military and nuclear weapons to disaster relief and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

But the way taxes are currently spent doesn't look much like what Americans want. Public opinion polls offer a pretty clear idea of our collective priority list, and in honor of tax day, I wrote about A People's Budget for Tax Day on TomDispatch. Here's an excerpt:

 

"Far from being an impossible set of demands, the collective opinion poll version of the wisdom of the American people is, in fact, a smart set of solutions—or at least it would be, if we had a government capable of following our wishes. That collective wish list would address most of this nation's urgent challenges, while making us smarter, safer, healthier, less indebted, and better invested in our long-term future. Here's how."

To read on, click here.