taxes

I admit that I'm a little late on this post, that it would have been much more poignant if posted on April 15. At least our taxes were in on time! But I just stumbled upon this on another blog, and seeing these statistics always pisses me off so much that I decided to piss you all off too. Wouldn't it be nice if we could vote on how our money gets spent? I think I would take some money from the defense budget and throw a little something on the public gardens fund. Couldn't we all use a few more flowers? Seriously though, what would our country look like if the money was spent slightly differently? A little less on defense, a little more for education? Reminds me of the bumper sticker on my car in college..."it will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the air force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber".

So here are the stats:

For every $100 in income tax:
* $32 goes to national defense
* $19 goes to interest on the national debt
* $15 goes to supplemental programs such as TANF, child tax credits, and
farm subsidies
* $14 goes to health
* $6 goes to education, employment, and social services
* $4 goes to transportation
* $2 goes to administration of justice
* $2 goes to environment and natural resources
* $2 goes to international affairs
* $1 goes to community and regional development
* $1 goes to agriculture
* $1 goes to science, space, and technology
* $1 goes to the commerce and housing fund