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Where did my taxes go?

wherethefuckdidmytaxesgo.com

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101–110 of 231 posts

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#101

Post by janalsncm »

doctorpangloss wrote: post #67
lastofthemojito wrote: post #14

As a thought experiment, it'd be interesting to imagine how things would play out if each taxpayer could adjust little sliders on each category to allocate where they personally would like their taxes to go. Agencies could recommend funding levels, Congress could recommend an allocation and if a taxpayer didn't change it, that default would take effect. But if a taxpayer preferred, they could say, "no, I won't be fun…

Look, we spend a lot on things people want, right? We are living in your sliders world. I hate these sorts of websites because they have a very intellectual starch to them but are very superficial. I also hate this frame of mind that's like, "nobody would choose to do boring stuff." People aren't stupid. I hate this "voters are stupid" frame of mind. It's unelectable, and it's always said by people who complain about…

> We are living in your sliders world

To some extent? But the sliders would probably be even more extreme. If you are 70 years old you’ll probably vote to put everything on Uncle Sam’s credit card and let younger generations deal with it after you’re dead.

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#102

Post by tgrowazay »

ch4s3 wrote: post #50
phillipcarter wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, much of that gets dispersed into an unfathomably complex web of private and profit-seeking interests, with much less actually going to individual beneficiaries.

A lot just gets sucked up by 3rd parties of all stripes. Only ~20% of hospitals are for profit institutions for example.

My daughter’s classmate’s father is a head of a non-profit hospital.

They have a 6k sqft house with a basketball court, pool and a pool house in the prime location in West Los Angeles.

They had to join two lots to build to their liking.

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#103

Post by reese_john »

Apreche wrote: post #94

I really wish we would get away from this line of thinking. For state and local governments, yes, your taxes are put into accounts and are then spent according to the budget. For the federal government, no. Money that is paid in taxes is effectively eliminated. The total number of dollars that exist in circulation is reduced. When the federal government spends money, it is creating all new money. It can’t run out. It…

The treasury has an account at the FED called TGA[0] which is funded by tax payments and proceeds from new Treasuries issuance

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasury_General_Account

> The total number of dollars that exist in circulation is reduced.

Not accurate. Dollars are a liabilities on the books of the Federal Reserve. Tax payments to the federal government only cause a liability shift from commercial banks’ reserves at the FED to the TGA, it doesn’t really change the net amount of dollars in circulation.

The most you could argue is that it momentarily reduces the net commercial banks’ liabilities (which economists call M*) until the Treasury distributes those dollars again to the broad economy

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#104

Post by d_burfoot »

Many Americans do not realize how much money the US government spends. When you include all three levels, it comes to $32K/person/year [0]. This is much higher than countries that are considered "social democracies" such as Finland, France and Canada. If you look at wealthy blue cities like NYC or SF, the spending is on the order of $50K/p/y, comparable to Norway.

It is not realistic to believe that we can become a nice wholesome European country if we just raise taxes a bit. The extra money will just be squandered and stolen.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_governmen...

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#107

Post by ambicapter »

jerlam wrote: post #100
lastofthemojito wrote: post #14

As a thought experiment, it'd be interesting to imagine how things would play out if each taxpayer could adjust little sliders on each category to allocate where they personally would like their taxes to go. Agencies could recommend funding levels, Congress could recommend an allocation and if a taxpayer didn't change it, that default would take effect. But if a taxpayer preferred, they could say, "no, I won't be fun…

Organizations don't work well when their budget can change dramatically from one year to the next. There's no ability to take on long-term plans when another, popular department takes 50% of your budget, or someone in your PR department makes a gaffe. Long-term employees get laid off and won't return in a few years when your budget goes back up.

Could have the slider pull the budget in that direction over the course of 5-10 years, instead of having it reflected immediately in the next year.

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#109

Post by kbelder »

kacy wrote: post #90
pclowes wrote: post #79

More and more I find my politics drifting towards whoever will balance the budget and pay down the deficit. Since that party doesn’t exist I am politically homeless.

fun fact I discovered in this process: if the US just went back to 2019 spending (with 2025 tax revenue), there would be a $780B surplus.

Just fixing federal budget growth to a figure slightly less than GDP growth would do the trick eventually. But we just can't bring ourselves to do it.

"Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys."

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#110

Post by xeromal »

d_burfoot wrote: post #104

Many Americans do not realize how much money the US government spends. When you include all three levels, it comes to $32K/person/year [0]. This is much higher than countries that are considered "social democracies" such as Finland, France and Canada. If you look at wealthy blue cities like NYC or SF, the spending is on the order of $50K/p/y, comparable to Norway. It is not realistic to believe that we can become a n…

Is the amount proportional to the per capita income of the respective countries?
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