Taxpayers itemized reciept

[divvy]

I got this chart here: https://news.fidelity.com/news/article.jhtml?guid=/FidelityNewsPage/pages/tracking-your-federal-tax-dollars&topic=taxes

The article says not everything is represented but of what is shown, $9164.77 per year of a working couples tax bill is spent on the military. This is over 21.3% of your tax bill. The CIA, FBI, and Border security budgets add another $890.25, or 2% to the tax receipt.

Most Americans have wrong ideas about what items are the largest expenses in the budget as the result of tea bag or right wing spin. The largest expense is Social Security, but most all of this gets paid back to you by the time you reach the mid 80's.

We do a lousy job of presenting our own case. If we let the tea bag types control the discussion, then the budget decisions will only create another fiscal disaster.

[mmonk]

1. The MIC is where most of our money goes

In fact, every single calculation I have seen, mainstream, liberal, conservative indicates that is where our tax dollars go.

[Scuba]

2. This chart may be right, but it's still wrong.....

.... why not take Social Security and break it down into its component parts - men, women, disabled, etc.?

The no single line-item would be listed as most expensive.



That's what happened to military expenditures on this chart. If I add all the military expenditures together (don't forget the Coast Guard!) they exceed the Social Security number.

[Skidmore]

3. Even if you were to get back dollar for dollar after becoming eligible for

SS, $8K+ per year is not something a person can live on, and many minimum wage earners do not have access to private or public pension funds nor are they able to save.

[divvy]

5. That is a great point !

Too bad our leadership can't figure out how to say it clearly.

[Doctor_J]

4. I don't know what you mean by "let" the teabaggers control the discussion

their benefactors own, and are in 100% control of, the media. Every newspaper, magazine, TV station, and radio station is run by ultra-right wingers who constantly lie, slander, and slant to make sure their version of reality is the one presented.

[divvy]

7. Hi Dr J,

Most American voters have been grossly misinformed about budget expenses. The right wing has been controlling this dialog, and the left has been silent. At the minimum, we need to point out this misrepresentation of fact. I work with many folks who really believe that illegal immigrants consume more tax dollars than even the military and are followed closely by inner city blacks. Of course this is not true, but it does affect how people vote.

Much of our losses are directly attributable to how poorly we propagate our message. It is almost non-existent at times.

[Doctor_J]

8. true, but it doesn't address my point

The reason that your cohorts at work think that immigrants drain the economy is that Big Media tells them that, on every TV and radio station, and in every newspaper, all day every day. They are misinformed not because of a problem with our framing, it is because the mass media is saturated with right-wing lies.

[Doctor_J]

6. I just noticed something funny about this chart

The retired couple with income of $100,000K is paying only 7.5% in taxes. Plus they're probably reaping SS and Medicare benefits. Yet they're the demographic that went teabag this year.

Fox News and Hate Radio - enemies of America.

[arbusto_baboso]

9. A lot of that "Department of Energy" allocation is also military....

The DoE now maintains our nuclear arsenal, you know.