The Average Man’s Tax Dollars
April 7th, 2009
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April 7th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Thank you for the money,
Etay,
Israel.
April 7th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
how can we be sure that the numbers are credible.
Nice job on the flowchart like presentation though
April 7th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
I love how the last one ended all of it so ironically. Nice work. Very eye-opening
April 7th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Wow. this is actually pretty cool.
April 8th, 2009 at 12:53 am
[...] Toilet Paper.com has a very good article on the breakdown of the tax dollars that the average man makes and exactly what the dollars go [...]
April 8th, 2009 at 9:19 am
The U.S. Government has a vast array of ways to misspend our tax dollars.
This flowchart can hardly be considered authoritative or accurate, considering other revenue sources such as business taxes and the wealthy are left out.
Another note:
To imply that the lack of funding for our schools is directly tied to military “over” spending is myopic.
I for one would really like to keep our military equipped to kick anyone’s ass when the need arises and an education program that does the same.
April 8th, 2009 at 9:50 am
$2,601.77 to a non-existent Social Security fund, and $1,216.96 to Medicare.
April 8th, 2009 at 10:00 am
popurls.com // popular today…
story has entered the popular today section on popurls.com…
April 8th, 2009 at 10:16 am
This is kinda misleading. Military expense is at a national level because protection needs to be national. Education funding is mostly local (state for colleges and county/city for primary education). So, contrasting this as “Of the taxes paid…X military Y education” the detail that this is only federal tax is lost on most readers.
April 8th, 2009 at 10:46 am
Loved it. I added them up though, this doesn’t even account for 30% of tax dollars.
So I investigated.
$965.37 (21%) Goes to Social Security. That’s right, the “endowment” program eats up more than 1 in 5 tax dollars.
763.102 (16.6%) Goes to the entire Department of defense, including the Army, Air force, Navy, Marines, and National Guard.
611.401 (13.3%) Goes to Medicare.
514.864 (11.2%) Goes to Welfare.
413.73 (9.0%) Is nothing but interest on the debt. One in 11 tax dollars goes to pay interest on past government activity.
330.984 (7.2%) Goes to Medicaid.
Still feeling ripped off by schools, NASA and the army?
April 8th, 2009 at 10:50 am
It figures … we give just over half of our $$ to foreign military to israel. What a waste! No wonder the rest of the world hates us.
April 8th, 2009 at 10:50 am
…which adds up to 1,224.73. So, of the federal taxes paid by the average man, you’ve accounted for 26.64% of it. Which makes this interesting…but leaves me wondering about the majority of the money. (BTW, the CDC doesn’t pay for anyone’s prostate cancer treatment…I found that one a bit odd).
April 8th, 2009 at 10:56 am
Funny, I paid a lot more than that when I made 40K. Of course single people without a house are much less entitled to their money, right?
April 8th, 2009 at 11:03 am
I would like to know how much of our tax dollars are spent on jet fuel for those flyovers on holidays and at air shows. If one is using the argument that our taxes pay for defense, they should not be wasted on “civilian entertainment missions”.
April 8th, 2009 at 11:14 am
Nice presentation.
Sources??
April 8th, 2009 at 11:15 am
And the rest goes to the Federal Reserve (a private organization) to pay the interest on the money they lend you… Your own money ???
April 8th, 2009 at 11:29 am
Except….none of your Federal Income tax $ ever make’s it to any of these things, other taxes you pay in your everyday life do. They are used to pay down the interest and debt to the FED, a private corporation, who prints and controls the US $, who answers to no one, but those who control it, and we don’t know who they all are, but we do know they finance the operation of the Federal Government.
Knowledge is power. Resist.
April 8th, 2009 at 11:29 am
most of your tax money goes to paying off interest to other countries that we take out loans for.
the point of the game is to make more money off the money we borrow from other countries than we pay in interest, therefore benefitting the taxpayers greater than having not being taxed.
there is a reason we can spend more money than we are taxed…this normalizes expenses such as military and medical by tax revenue for comparison, but this certainly is not where your tax money is going.
April 8th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
I hope every American tax payer sees the last one so we can collectively say fuck israel and let them fend for themselves for once.
April 8th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
You know they are credible because it is on the internet.
April 8th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Can I get a ride in the Raptor??
April 8th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
In the NASA part the pictured shuttle is not the American one but the old soviet prototype http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_(spacecraft)
April 8th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
In the NASA part the pictured shuttle is not the American one but the old soviet prototype “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_(spacecraft)”
April 8th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Uhh- yeah, this is definitely not the whole story. Where’s social security, medical/medicaid in there? Yeah, that gets withheld from your paycheck but just because you aren’t paying for it in April doesn’t mean you shouldn’t show it.
April 8th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
upgrade your servers
April 8th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
umm.. the #’s don’t add up. If one pays $4,957.. the chart only displays roughly $1200… where is the rest? That is the real story.
April 8th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Is it always de rigueur to point out that Israel gets foreign military funding from the US? No bias or anything right? They must be the ONLY ones getting money… right?
April 8th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
How much of it goes to pay for old and sick people I don’t know or care about to get electric wheelchairs and for my friend in New York to bum around on unemployment for 5 months yet still afford to live in an apartment as nice as mine?
April 8th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
So you guys spend a lot on guns and shit
April 8th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Your propagating disinformation…American tax dollars actually go to pay the interest on the money that was borrowed from the Federal Reserve.
April 8th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
This is innacurate as far as I know. About 54% of tax money goes to military.
April 8th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
I guess social security isn’t covered by this…and aren’t considered a “tax”, right?
April 8th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
unfortunately, money collected for the federal income tax goes entirely to cover interest on loans the government has taken out from the federal reserve bank. the budget comes from debt, not income taxes.
April 8th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
[...] 8th, 2009 The Average Man’s Tax Dollars from [...]
April 8th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
So wait… Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security cost nothing? I thought they were the 3 largest hunks of the budget?
April 8th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Beautiful and tragic at the same time. Great design, terrible numbers.
If that’s not motivation to become Libertarian, I don’t know what is.
April 8th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
This is spin at it’s very level best. Facts (probably verifiable), used to push one view, while suppressing any other.
What we see here is a statement that we would be surprised at how much of the average man’s paycheck goes to finance things he objects to (Interesting, the implication of the Average Man’s view of the world here)… But, then the things “he objects to” are very carefully selected here, to the detriment of comparative facts.
Overall, these slides do not account for $3142.27 of Average’s $4597.00. Which is to say 80.53% of the total tax is accouted for by the slides. Further, the individual slides are as egregious in their selective nature:
Army: 98.71% unaccounted for.
Education: 73.44%
DoE: 61.43%
DHHS: 84.65%
DoJ: 66.38%
Dept. of State: 83.43%
In all, $282.25 out of $4597.00 is analyzed here, or a grand total of 6.2% of the total tax.
So, while certainly sensational and graphically compelling, it’s hardly fully informative.
April 8th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Nice flowchart but you forgot about medicare, SS and medicaid. That’s is where most of the people’s tax money goes.
April 8th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
so were spending five times as much money financing israel’s military than we are on renewable energy??
and almost twice as much on israels military than we are on international peacekeeping??
fuck that.
April 8th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
This is all good and fine, except Obama is cutting taxes to where an “average” guy making 42k a year is going to pay a lot less taxes than are in the chart.
April 8th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
nice — small problem on the space shuttle one, though:
you didn’t include a picture of the space shuttle — it’s actually an image of the russian version, the Buran (which never actually got used)
April 8th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
That only adds up to $1454 and change out of the $4597 paid in taxes; where’s the rest ($3143) of it going? And who’s paying for the excursions/party on Air Force One??? That must be what the $3143 is for.
April 8th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
What about the Stimulus money and useless bailouts that Obama is giving away as if it was candy during Halloween?
It is as if he is printing money to do it, oh wait he is!
Hellooo inflation!
April 8th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Apparently, Uzis are cheap but the last one doesn’t account for all of the other nations we give part of that dough to like Japan, The Phillippines, Panama, etc. But in all, this whole flowchart is great.
April 8th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
On your NASA poster you used a image of the Soviet Buran Shuttle not the NASA Space Shuttle.
April 8th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Please quote your sources.
April 8th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
this is really cool presentation-wise,but how credible are these sources? where do these numbers come from? backup your claims please
April 8th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Seems to have left out the money spent for social spending. Care to discuss the other $3142.27? Interesting yes, complete no way.
April 8th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Of course this completely ignores taxes paid to state and local governments and cherry-picks out funding sources that the author disagrees with. Yeah, we get you don’t like the military and aren’t fond of Israel and NASA, but what about federal expenditures for Medicare and Medicaid, and Social Security? Of course you’ve got pretty graphics, so I guess that makes this superficial commentary on government spending have slightly more than no redeeming qualities.
April 8th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
…very subjective statistics, leaving the $3142.27 majority of taxpayers money unaccounted for on your ‘infographic’. We all accept that there are plenty of necessary government funds we must pay into in order to keep the country running. I would prefer to reflect on the vast amount of money spent by “The Average Man” keeping those not working in comfortable living conditions. If England is anything to go by, we spend an inordinate amount of taxpayers money paying for the unemployed to stay out of work. It may seem unfair to brand everyone out of work as ’stealing from the state’, but when (as the case is in England) it’s easier to not get a job, have a few kids and be put into a 3 bedroom house as a single mother, why would anyone have the motivation to start work in the first place?! maybe I’m just bitter that 1/3 of my paycheck last month went on tax, but a revision to how this is calculated would be welcome in my books!!
April 8th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
Why is this news? The americans are spending all the money the exploit from other countries to dominate the world, we already new that.
April 8th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
how much of that money indirectly goes to education through the army?
more importantly… how many tax payers does it take to get a squirrel cleaned off the road?
April 8th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
No… they all go to the federal reserve to pay off the interest on the money they print.
April 8th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
awesome.
April 8th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
I am appalled by the giant waste of tax money! When is anyone going to have to be held accountable for this ludicrous spending? Guess there’s more money made for private industry… which a “small govt.” Republican will tell you is good for the economy. But what will we do when this massive overspending catches up with us? Will we be at the mercy of the Chinese? What happens when they don’t want to buy up out debt any longer? Or worse yet, want OUT of our Treasuries? Will this be the end of the U.S. superpower dominance??????
April 8th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
So curious that the Soviet Buran Space Shuttle was used to illustrate the NASA page, instead of NASA’s own Shuttle…
April 8th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
What abou the other $3142.27
April 8th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
I like this quite a bit. The strange and funny bit is how they showed an image of the Soviet/Russian Federation Buran space shuttle, not the American shuttle.
http://www.schneiderism.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/buran-vs-shuttle-large.jpg
April 8th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
I like the soviet shuttle.. Nice how you snuck that in there.
Welcome to the USSA.
April 8th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Is Israel a developing country? Why are we still giving taxpayer dollars to Israel?
April 8th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
On the NASA one, that’s a russian space shuttle…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_(spacecraft)
April 8th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
Awesome!
Everybody should be aware of it.
April 8th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
And everyone whines about how ” the working man has to bail out the rich people”
No.
Rich people pay the vast majority of the annual tax bracket in the US. So sit down and shut the fuck up
April 8th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
wow, isnt that something.
April 8th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Since when does the federal government pay for Harvard students?
April 8th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Hey folks. I am the author of these graphics. Let me address some of your fester issues.
These slides to not represent the whole of the %4,497 in taxes paid. I just thought 10 slides was a nice round number to stop at.
I am not trying to push an agenda or bias here. I’m not quite sure where in the graphics it says that we should trade in our guns for school books. I am not anti-military so y’alls need to calm down every time the military is reference in relation to federal spending. It’s a serious chunk of change, capiche.
Medicare and social security are not listed here. To find out how much you pay for that stuff, look at your paychecks. It should be there.
Oh and sorry bout the space shuttle graphic. I blame google image search, and my own ignorance of russian space shuttle design.
Every fact I can back up with a source. I didn’t include them because there were about 50 references and a wall of text in the footnotes is rather ugly. If you have any specific questions, just ask.
And finally to all those morons who keep saying that all of our taxes goes to finance the debt… c’mon guys, its basic math. Last year the US collected $2.7 trillion in federal taxes. Debt payments were only $260 billion, about 10%.
April 8th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Um why is my renewable energy money being spent on a gallon of gas?
April 9th, 2009 at 12:35 am
I love this. It’s a frightening look into where our money actually goes.
I’d love to print these out on huge, quality poster paper and paste them all over town. Might open a few eyes.
April 9th, 2009 at 2:08 am
fucking israel still taking money from USA. for what reason?
April 9th, 2009 at 3:18 am
Isn’t it more like it’s making the minimum payment on debt for things we already bought?
April 9th, 2009 at 6:41 am
Nice job!
April 9th, 2009 at 7:10 am
Liked this but… I assume tax income from women gets spent on something different then?
April 9th, 2009 at 11:15 am
[...] More? The Average Man’s Tax Dollars – The Toilet Paper [...]
April 10th, 2009 at 1:10 am
[...] on where your tax dollars end [...]
April 10th, 2009 at 5:58 am
I thought about this from a reverse view, apparently. All I kept thinking was that the government really doesn’t ask for much. The least I could do is contribute 9 bullets and 58 minutes of a Harvard education.
April 11th, 2009 at 2:15 am
Great presentation, sad story!
April 11th, 2009 at 6:55 am
It is not entirely accurate. It wouldn’t take that much money to fund a second moon landing, if you took the numbers from the last moon landing budget, because most of the money funded the research, and that research didn’t disappear, it is still available for US disposal. Also, under the Department of Energy, the money probably goes mostly to nuclear power research, and partly to implementation (weather in nuclear weapons or not).
April 11th, 2009 at 8:25 am
Does anyone cite sources? Seriously? I’m sick of so called ‘facts’ that are posted all over the Internet with no sources. This is just a bunch of sourceless data and I am very skeptical. The Internet is full of BS and that’s probably what this is.
April 11th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Nice layout, but misleading. You focus on the stuff you want people to be outraged about, but forget about the big stuff. Social Security! What percent goes for a retirement fund that won’t be available to you when you retire?
April 11th, 2009 at 10:14 am
It could be summed up with 1 pie chart with 100% going to the Private, For-Profit, Off-shore Federal Reserve Banking cartel
April 11th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
This is terrible. Just like every other chart used to get a rise out of people, it takes a small portion of facts with nothing to compare them too, applies them without scope or meaning in a way that is mostly incorrect, it makes it in some way “creative” with some stunning figure at the end to make a dramatic point. There are a million ways in which tax dollars are used incorrectly and not one of them is on here. I am also in college and I have never seen a $60 text book.
April 11th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
Too funny.
The “average man” making $41K/year is also married with 2.5 kids.
Guess what…this person either doesn’t pay income taxes (through various credits, refunds, etc.) or pays very little (certainly not the amount stated, especially under Barak Obama), most definitely not the 10%-11% asserted by this author (even as a single man).
Daily news for the thinking man? I think not.
How about class warfare propaganda for the selfish masses who won’t educate themselves on the issues.
April 12th, 2009 at 7:24 am
Entertaining, but meaningless. What is the ‘right’ spend per taxpayer on jet fighters, or national parks? Still, those Humvees sure look a luxury. Someone coining it.
April 12th, 2009 at 10:24 am
“great design, terrible numbers…if thats not motivation to become libertarian i dont know what it is”….haha right on laura.
April 12th, 2009 at 10:26 am
wow. the federal government sucks.
April 12th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
I really didn’t have any idea how much taxes “we the people” have to pay before watching this page. Nice job.
April 12th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
I’m getting 27 dollars back this year.. Hooray?
April 12th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
I hope the Obama administration will pay more money to Israel in the future. It is outrageous that we only receive $9.91 from each American. We need more money to kill all Arabs and everybody else who doesn’t serve us. God is on our side, don’t forget. You all go to hell if you don’t serve Jews. The Bible says it…
April 13th, 2009 at 12:20 am
Great chart, atleast u can say that you bought a flu shot
April 13th, 2009 at 12:24 am
well very respectable way to bring forth information, though there is no sources for this chart, it is believeable. the one problem i have with it is that it makes giving money to israel look like a bad thing. Israel is not an enemy country, and its not the only country the US has givin military weapons, it is possibly the only country to not use those weapons against us. of coarse that statement is a bit over the top, but it has truth to it. also all of the things we pay goes twards things that help us all the time. of coarse im not saying that alot of the tax money spent is used to its potental, but most of the time it goes to the most important things. and for those who say why does the military get massive funding, i will tell you the secret why right now, america is seen as the most powerful country in the world and it is worth it to spend billions of dollors on it to make other countries fear us. its a sad reality that we cant all live in peace, but without that sort of funding, it gives enemies an edge on us. granted, a few dollors here and there should go to other humanitarian or enviornmental agencies, but beggers cant be choosers. Oh and as to my response to Jess, this is bias because you chose what to put up on the chart. anything chosen is bias. so if you mean any harm by it or not, it is bias. by not being bias you would have put every thing here. its okay that you didnt, but you put in how the us supports israel, which was something that didnt have to be added but you felt in your heart that you should so that is bias.
April 13th, 2009 at 9:34 am
You forgot the chunk of change that goes to planned parenthood to murder our unborn and call it the freedom of choice.
April 13th, 2009 at 11:41 am
Don’t suppose any of the people on here saying this is all lies and BS have been watching the news, not just mainstream? Take a look at what its buying you… Since the beginning of this presidency, there have been a lot of lost freedoms and a lot of suspicious activity… And its kinda makin it so my job is harder and my goin to my families cabin isn’t quite as fruitful for enjoyment and sport…
April 13th, 2009 at 11:42 am
Only $60.76 per day for a day as a federal prisoner? Sounds like a good deal to me. http://tinyurl.com/Fed-Tax
April 13th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Dean Petersen: “I for one would really like to keep our military equipped to kick anyone’s ass when the need arises”.
Which is when, exactly?
April 13th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
This is some of the comments from my office staff.
-If you think of taxes as a payment that lets you stay in this country. It seems like quite a bargain.
-How can I get More out of my tax dollars?
-It would be nice to have a tool that takes your tax amount and shows how it’s spread across the percentages.
-I hope one of my 9 bullets killed one of those pirates today. (I know army.. not navy)
April 13th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Who cares where this flowchart says the money goes! Any way you look at it the money does not help our people as much as those overseas. We are still on this save the world kick. Fuck the rest of the world, do they give us money? No! Not unless we hafta have it. For instance China. They do not like us!!! (Politically speaking) Never have, never will… They give us loot because if we stop buying their junk shit, POOF! Their economy is destroyed almost overnight. Same with many other countries. Saudi Oil!!! Us keeping other economies alive is the only thing that keeps them from collecting on the note. So when you wonder how to fix our economy, stop and realize. Our economy is the economy of those we import from. Configured in a manner that lets us be the poorest yet most wealthy country in the world. It’s control! We are to far behind to fix our economy without a total crash! It isn’t possible without the rest of the world saying “Hey you don’t hafta make a payment till next year.” It’d prolly take longer than that but… And if we did start producing more goods, do u actually think they wanna swap and buy from us??? And as a final thought… What’s going to keep the countries we owe money to from holding us for ransom when they can finally make a nuke fly around the world like us???
April 13th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Jess, nice graphics. I was wondering why there were so many complaints about some fairly self-explanatory issues.
I’ve come to believe that if you discuss something inflammatory, you get flamed – sometimes even by people that agree with you. It seems to put responders in an aggro frame of mind.
Nice images, even if they aren’t properly cited, US based, and comprehensive….
April 13th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Sorry but this is wrong… not a penny of an “average man’s” tax dollars goes towards any of these things. It all goes to interest incurred on the country’s debt.
April 14th, 2009 at 1:50 am
hmmmm, this said we pay approx. $4,500 in taxes every year but all the things in this article add up to around $1,500. either they forgot something or we’re all getting ass-fucked by the government.
April 14th, 2009 at 2:23 am
GOV SUCKS YO. I’VE BEEN SAYIN FO YEARS.
LIBERTY
April 14th, 2009 at 6:51 am
How do I join the FED?
April 14th, 2009 at 7:02 am
Great way to visualize our tax money. But I agree with #65, the interest on the money we borrow from other countries and federal reserve for the last 50 years is immense. How can income tax really go toward anything but that?
April 14th, 2009 at 8:05 am
I’d like to know what percentage of that money is “eaten up” by the Federal, State and local Beauracracies… How much less would our services be if the Gov’t was more efficient?
April 14th, 2009 at 11:18 am
I Still Owe the State…How will they manage?
April 14th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Money for Israel = Gasoline for fire.
All acts of terror against the US = fire.
Americans need to ask themselves;
“how many of my kids’ lives is Israel’s existence worth?”
April 14th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Actually, the US govt borrows money from the Federal Reserve to pay for everything, and our taxes pay for the principle and interest on the loans.
Dig a little deeper, and you’ll see
April 14th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
I liked it. I thought you did a great job!
April 14th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
We need to send more to Israel. $9.91 is not enough!
April 14th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Nice one Etay – you made me laugh!!!
April 14th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Super job on the layout and even better if you got the figures right. Dont forget to add in the other taxes i.e.
the tax you pay an everything you purchase out of the cash you get to keep. If you follow it through you’ll probaly find you give a heafty amount of your spending cash to the Fed as well. Well done you!
April 14th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Yes Node, womans’ taxes get spent on social security, medicare, welfare and planned parenthood.
I agree with Dean P. above, matter of fact the same debate was raging 24 years ago over the cost of an F-15. The daughter of Air Force pilot came home from school one afternoon and said “Daddy, my teacher told us today that for the cost of one F-15, we could build 6 public schools!!” The pilot told his daughter to ask her teacher: “How many Soviet Bison bombers can 6 public schools shoot down?” LOL LOL ROTFLMFAO TFF
April 14th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
[...] Click Here To Access The Remaining Flow Chart [...]
April 14th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Nice presentation of our crazy world.
Wonder what the average Woman’s taxes go to?
April 14th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
You are all morons …
Fully 49%of the dollars go to social security and medicare payments, “safety net programs” and servicing the debt. Get your heads out of your butts, stop whinig and grow up.
April 14th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Well DONE faceinthecrowd !!
April 14th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
How much tax money gets wasted?
April 14th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
I like the part where we are helping Israel. Money well spent! Wish we could do more. Proven fact: more money does not help education. Many evaluations conclude that the teacher in the classroom determines the success of the students…NOT “things” in the classroom.
April 14th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
How much per person to bail out the motor companies? Or for executive bonuses for IAG? Or how much per person BORROWED from China, to finance wars and such?
April 14th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
This cryptic message of cherry picked numbers used at random is worst than useless by being misleading. A bold face lie would be less deceptive.
April 14th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Hey can you actually start making TP rolls?!?! i would LOVE to buy one!
April 15th, 2009 at 12:19 am
Just a comment regarding Israel: most of the money is given to Israel with the condition that it be spent in the US. The big defense companies, and the congressmen who represent districts that get jobs from this money are the ones that keep this going. Egypt is also getting a lot of money under the same program with the same purpose: create jobs. This is sometimes called pork, except that in the middle east they would protest this for religious reasons.
April 15th, 2009 at 12:36 am
This reads like a real pisser to me. So much money to provide toys and guns for the boys. Lucky for the bastards we have no choice or they would be operating tea parties to pay for their shite.
April 15th, 2009 at 12:53 am
After reading this I was stunned no one made comments on how much Nancy Pelosi spends per week on flying home with her onterage and back to DC. It is Hundreds of thousands every week……..! HELLO !!! That is just one of those Government idiots.
April 15th, 2009 at 5:14 am
As Benjamin Disraeli once said, “Lies, damned lies…
April 15th, 2009 at 5:28 am
It would be much fairer if we could decide where our taxes are spent.
We should knock the Israel funding on the head – they just cause trouble for everyone.
Less money to the useless causes that nobody voted for, and more money to police and criminal disposal units.
Well done for bringing these figures to light – it is infuriating.
Thanks
Matt
April 15th, 2009 at 7:35 am
As a military man, I’d just like to say that those 9 bullets and 1/39577th of a Humvee each of you pays for are very much appreciated by us. Not to mention our barracks, food, and pay. And bandages, hospitals, insurance, and family care… as well as what gets paid to our families if we get killed. And for all that, your share is $544.
April 15th, 2009 at 8:23 am
The “interest” is paid to China and other countries who lend us money to keep going. I wonder how much of the principle is paid?
No wonder there is a deficit.
What would happen if the countries cut off funding us??
April 15th, 2009 at 9:32 am
I find it so funny that it’s *cool* to bash Israel now. The internet makes everyone stupid.
April 15th, 2009 at 11:46 am
gotten wonder what these numbers would have looked like in 1950, and what our grandchildren will see in 2050….25% for interest?
April 17th, 2009 at 11:00 am
[...] la série entère ici [...]
April 21st, 2009 at 9:23 am
Like the graphics. Cool way to display the data.
All the posters moaning about accuracy and agendas are morons.
April 21st, 2009 at 4:09 pm
[...] take a look at the wonderful ways in which the government is wasting your tax dollars. read more | digg [...]
April 22nd, 2009 at 9:55 am
Interesting responses. The chart seems to function as a politico-economic Rorshchach. Each person seems to find his/her own hopes and fears hidden within it.
For those who asked where the rest of the money went (and really want to know) see here:
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy09/browse.html
Here’s a reality check for whoever said people who make $40k don’t pay taxes: I made just under $50k and paid over $6000 in federal taxes. Singles without dependents who make $20k pay taxes. Welcome to Earth.
Re Social Security/Medicare: I had an ADDITIONAL $3076.21 withheld for Social Security, and an ADDITIONAL $719.45 for Medicare. Note the word ‘ADDITIONAL’ — They DO NOT come out of your federal income tax.
My two cents: You make money. You spend money. Meh.
Government’s just one expense of many you have to live with. As long I can buy one year of the IRS leaving me alone and still get by, I’m good.
May 2nd, 2009 at 10:24 am
hmmm,i guess if someone can come out with the $ spend in singapore will be better..haha.anyway it is expected tat most money was spent on war war and More WAR ..haha
May 3rd, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Dave, this is talking about INCOME taxes. No one pays medicare/aid or SS through INCOME taxes. So you get an F on your homework.
May 4th, 2009 at 2:24 am
[...] came across is a little different than the first two. It basically only uses text to describe where people’s tax dollars go. It caught my eye because it uses graphics and words are on top of toilet paper… It is an [...]
May 5th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
It is amazing how many hatemongers creep out of the WEB work to spew their vitriol and loathing of Israel under any provcation, real or imagined.
Considering that our tax bucks go to many nations for ‘defense’ why did Jess pick Israel as his illustration of tax spending? (No offense Jess but how come a nation smaller than New Jersey gets so much attention?)
FYI I hold both American and Israeli passsports.
May 8th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
All the more reason we need LESS taxes and not more. What your little depiction fails to explain is how if we raise the taxes on those who earn more than $250K; then the more jobs will be lost, the more goods will cost. Trickle down Economics is real!
If less than half of the voting population pay all the bills, then the US is going to be ran by people who get elected by the majority, who don’t even pay for all the “promises” and will demand more and more handouts and the ones that will get elected will continue to cater. The problem with this philosophy of socialism, is that you eventually run out of other peoples money!!!
May 8th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Nice presentation.
thanks
May 11th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Very cool post.
May 16th, 2009 at 1:30 am
To whom it may concern.
Why am I leaving this message, I didnt do anything thing wrong did you? If ya did fess up you’s will feel better after you get out and your booty heals up. One good thing about it, you won’t ever be constipated. Bwahahahahaha.
Have a good day—>
June 16th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
This list is just crazy! How long would it even take to put this together? My goodness! That is really awesome!
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:11 am
Why does foreign military support go through the State department? Wouldn’t that more properly go through the department of commerce (we give you money, you buy our bullets).
July 6th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
well, in the average Joe paid $4500 in taxes, that is a little less than my disability pension for the year. Thanks someone!
July 7th, 2009 at 4:10 am
Thanks for sharing..Now i know where the tax goes
July 15th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
I would rather send my money to Israel than some of these idiots that replied already.
July 29th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
[...] http://thetoiletpaper.com/blog/2009/the-average-mans-tax-dollars/ [...]
September 5th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
A very interesting graphic to demonstrate a point; nicely executed regardless of the political debate it seems to spurn.
October 4th, 2009 at 1:41 am
Imagine if your family paid $45,000 in Federal Taxes — it’s called the alternative minimum tax — no deductions for childcare, student loans, etc. — all phased out — they just dumb us down to all be lower middle class/middle class citizens — everyone has to be equal.
October 21st, 2009 at 12:25 pm
talk about sins of omission, Egypt gets nearly as much as Israel. Only about a dollar goes to the zombie defense budget.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:48 am
America gives money to Israel because they are the only TRUE democracy within the Middle East. The US needs Israel to maintain a democratic nation whose interests (i.e. peace)are in align within the US.
In addition, Israel is the only country that the US assists that upholds the agreement to purchase items back from the US such as arms (as so nicely depicted in the last slide.
If Israel was not around, the US would have a full out war on there hands with the Arab nations…think about it!
November 30th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
$60 for a textbook, no.
I think it’s interesting to make people aware of how much of a working persons income goes to help them directly, as McLaughlin pointed out. Also, it sheds light on how easy it would be to divert money from defense into the much needed public arenas of education and health.
Does anyone agree that we should reduce the defense budget?
December 9th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Like others have pointed out this is interesting, but
far from scholarly.
I also would like to add that most military spending is R&D based. This is really a great way for the government to support private R&D with getting around international trade treaties that prohibit various government sponsored industry and favoritism. Most of what is founded and first used by the military is then given to the private sector. Examples are GPS, satellite anything, the Internet, and the list goes on and on. So, while military spending does go to war and warlike activities a good portion of it goes to R&D that eventually benefits all of society.
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Great way to look at things….
January 11th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
I hate the government
January 29th, 2010 at 11:43 am
I’m way behind the power curve on this topic. I found this site searching for information on where my tax dollars are actually going and how me as an Average Joe can effect change to what is really going on. In part the link provided by Don (entry 132) is exactly what is was looking for “Where my tax dollars are acuually going.” I can do the math for my personal percentages. It will take some time to sift through all the information there but suffice it to say that is my next step.
Many thanks to Jess (entry 66) for the clarification and graphics. For all you idiots wrapped around the axle about the Space Shuttle graphic I think you have missed the point. Your verbose objection to what picture Jess used worries me, but reinforces my next statement. Instead of wondering why the Average Joe can’t tell the difference between a Soviet and an American Space Shuttle, we focus our attention on the graphic and not what the graphic represents. It’s just a picture people and has very little to do with the content of this presentation.
Tyler (entry 13) Right On! As an Average Joe I think your family your problem. The more intelligent of our population limit their family size by what they can afford to support. I know that shit happens and it is not always up to you when a child is born. The initial statement stands, your cross your burden don’t make me pay for your mistakes. It concerns me that we encourage our stupid to breed and tax those with the sense to know where babies come from more.
AndWhun (entry 96) Awesome! The world laughs at us because we think we are the best and it is our way or no way. We came to this country to escape opression (religious or otherwise) but here we are a couple of hundred years later imposing our will on whomever choses to think and live differently than us. It costs the Average Joe a good chunk of change and the loss of American lives to poke our noses in everyone elses business (i.e. Iraq). I’m a retired military man (20 years Army) and believe our military is critical to sustaining our way of life. The Military is a misused resource, instead of spending billions outside our borders we could spend millions within to make our way of life better. Our soldiers are capable of doing more than killing and dying. nuff said