Intellectual Free For All: Our Tax Dollars
Without further ado, welcome to the very first...
It was put to a vote, and Ideal Tax Expenditures is to be our first topic of conversation.
Where should the government to spend our tax dollars, in your opinion?- Where do you think the government overspends or neglects?
- What would be your ideal use of our tax money?
- Are there any national programs that need more or less funding?
I'm from the USA, so this may be US-centric. But if you're not living in this country, you can still participate and add some information about the country you live in.
According to the Office of Management and Budget website, this is a breakdown of how the US government hopes to spend our 2009 tax dollars.
2009 Requested Budget
Department:
Budget in billions:
Agriculture
20.8
Commerce
8.2
Defense
515.4
Education
59.2
Energy
25
Health/Human Services
70.4
Homeland Security
37.6
Housing and Urban Development
38.5
Interior
10.6
Justice
20.3
Labor
10.5
State/Int'l Programs
38.3
Transportation
11.5
Treasury
12.5
Veterans Affairs
44.8
Corps of Engineers
4.7
Environmental Protection Agency
7.1
Executive Office of the President
0.4
Judicial Branch
6.3
Legislative Branch
4.7
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
17.6
Nat'l Science Foundation
6.9
Small Business Assoc.
0.7
Social Security Administration
8.4
Other Agencies
7.2
Total expenditures: 987.6 BILLION
This is up from 941.4 billion this year, and 643.8 billion in 2001.
Here is what it looks like, broken down by percentages (little thanks to Excel which, despite giving me a nice image, failed miserably with the labels).
Excel came up with the numbers, as well, which are obviously rounded. I decided not to fight with it.
In any case, we can clearly see where the US government wishes to put most of our tax dollars this next fiscal year. I'd probably have to do a little digging to see which specific programs are getting the most funding and which are getting terminated. Hopefully this is enough to spark some conversations. I'll be adding my two cents in the comments at some point!
It was put to a vote, and Ideal Tax Expenditures is to be our first topic of conversation.
Where should the government to spend our tax dollars, in your opinion?- Where do you think the government overspends or neglects?
- What would be your ideal use of our tax money?
- Are there any national programs that need more or less funding?
I'm from the USA, so this may be US-centric. But if you're not living in this country, you can still participate and add some information about the country you live in.
According to the Office of Management and Budget website, this is a breakdown of how the US government hopes to spend our 2009 tax dollars.
2009 Requested Budget
Department:
Budget in billions:
Agriculture
20.8
Commerce
8.2
Defense
515.4
Education
59.2
Energy
25
Health/Human Services
70.4
Homeland Security
37.6
Housing and Urban Development
38.5
Interior
10.6
Justice
20.3
Labor
10.5
State/Int'l Programs
38.3
Transportation
11.5
Treasury
12.5
Veterans Affairs
44.8
Corps of Engineers
4.7
Environmental Protection Agency
7.1
Executive Office of the President
0.4
Judicial Branch
6.3
Legislative Branch
4.7
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
17.6
Nat'l Science Foundation
6.9
Small Business Assoc.
0.7
Social Security Administration
8.4
Other Agencies
7.2
Total expenditures: 987.6 BILLION
This is up from 941.4 billion this year, and 643.8 billion in 2001.
Here is what it looks like, broken down by percentages (little thanks to Excel which, despite giving me a nice image, failed miserably with the labels).
Excel came up with the numbers, as well, which are obviously rounded. I decided not to fight with it.
In any case, we can clearly see where the US government wishes to put most of our tax dollars this next fiscal year. I'd probably have to do a little digging to see which specific programs are getting the most funding and which are getting terminated. Hopefully this is enough to spark some conversations. I'll be adding my two cents in the comments at some point!