Interesting tables...didn't think it was purely "political", so I put it here in the Lounge.
GL, mD
Nov. 5, 2010, 10:39 p.m. EDT
Tracking Your Federal Tax Dollars
By Laura Saunders , The Wall Street Journal
Where do your federal tax dollars go?
Many people don't know. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that 40% thought foreign aid was one of the two largest federal-budget expenses. In reality, Uncle Sam spends $14 on Medicare—itself the second-largest expense—for every dollar spent on foreign aid.
To counter such misconceptions, a not-for-profit Washington-based group called Third Way has produced an itemized taxpayer receipt that helps show the spending issues the new Congress will face.
"Taxes are the biggest expenditure for many American families, who need to know how their money is being spent," says
David Kendall, a fellow at Third Way. The group is left-leaning, he says, but this project was nonpartisan: "We tried to answer the questions a Republican and a Democrat sitting side by side would ask."
The Tax Foundation, which favors cutting taxes, approves of the project. "This kind of education is good," says the foundation's
Gerald Prante.
To be sure, Third Way's methodology has its limits. Some off-budget items aren't included, and the group uses simple cash-in, cash-out accounting rather than the more complex accrual method.
There also is one big omission: a figure for the ballooning national debt. "The debt is like the unpaid balance on a credit card, and it's hard to say who will pay it or when," says economist
Roberton Williams of the Tax Policy Center, who also likes the itemized receipt.
At the Journal's request, Third Way prepared a receipt for the federal taxes of two couples, showing how much a selection of programs received. (Because of space constraints, the list isn't exhaustive.) The couple with $200,000 income has two children, ages 13 and 17, with one spouse earning $150,000 and the other $50,000. The couple with $100,000 of income is retired, with no dependents.