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Where did my taxes go?

wherethefuckdidmytaxesgo.com

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Re: Where did my taxes go?

#121

Post by OkayPhysicist »

jimbokun wrote: post #76
phillipcarter wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has, as has similar efforts worldwide which also saw similar or worse levels of inflation. We were dealt a shit hand and the thinking was it's less pain overall compared to the alternative. That said, the amount of fraud that was perpetuated here without any follow-through on enforcement is ... extremely not good.

I think lack of enforcement was a deliberate decision to get the money out faster. If each claim was investigated closely before paying out, it may have resulted in higher unemployment and lower economic output.

Most of the fraud was the business loans, that they then forgave. That structure innately gave them the opportunity to take their time investigating them, after the benefit was already produced. They just chose not to.

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#122

Post by fortran77 »

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…

> When you include all three levels, it comes to $32K/person/year

Which is why these calculators should tell people who pay less than $32K that they are getting supported by the 5% who pay most of the taxes...

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#123

Post by [deleted] »

phillipcarter wrote: post #22
arjie wrote: post #12

This makes it sort of obvious how large the US welfare state is. Medicaid: 10% "Safety Net": 7.1% Social Security: 22.6% Medicare: 14.2% 53.9% of the federal budget is spent on welfare. That seems roughly in line with most Western nations.

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.

[deleted]

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#124

Post by jrflowers »

mothballed wrote: post #99
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…

I live in a place with basically zero property taxes (except a pittance for the school). No public roads, no fire, almost no police, no parks, no public utilities. It's absolutely glorious. I can buy exactly what I need. My monthly utility bills are way lower than anywhere else I've lived. I cannot believe the populace has been duped into thinking so much of what we fund so direly must be done publicly that armed tax…

> no fire

Trying to think of a place where there is no chance of fire and all I’m coming up with is the moon

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#125

Post by icegreentea2 »

xeromal wrote: post #110
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?

If you do tax revenue as % of GDP, you get the US falling at about 25%, with the OECD average sitting around 35%.

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#126

Post by dang »

On HN we don't much care about profanity per se, so there's no need to bowdlerize a la "the fuck" -> "the heck".

In this case, though, the best option is probably just to take out the expletive.

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#127

Post by mekdoonggi »

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…

I like this idea, but limit it to $1000. Everything in government is funded, but each person can direct $1000 to general fund, a specific department, an initiative, or a registered non-profit.

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#128

Post by carlosjobim »

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…

This line of reasoning seems to be without any deeper thought.

If taxpayers should have the freedom to decide how the money that is taken from them is spent, then why shouldn't they have the freedom to decide how much money they pay?

If taxes aren't collected because the ends justify the means, then the only other option is that they are collected to punish the taxpayers.

The former can be morally justifiable, but how do you justify the latter?

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#129

Post by uticus »

Love it - great application of publicly-available data. Also ref https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47420307 US govt provided public debt resources.

By the way, the 1040 instructions have a pie chart like this (ref https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf, page 122). Not that most people do taxes themselves, or have a reason to read to page 122 of instructions for a single form. But still it's there and perhaps a nice gesture by the IRS.

Breaking it out into pie charts etc like this can be really helpful. In my view the real kicker with taxes is the opaqueness. Kinda like a meal card versus paying for every meal, or like using a credit card versus paying with cash, it's hard for humans to really grasp what's going on unless they're involved.

Of course it would be impractical to pay taxes separately to every waiting hand in government bureaucracy. But on the other hand maybe the number one goal shouldn't be ease of use, either. Maybe a little friction when paying for public services could be a good thing for citizens who are interested in a healthy country - my opinion.

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#130

Post by BurningFrog »

phillipcarter wrote: post #22
arjie wrote: post #12

This makes it sort of obvious how large the US welfare state is. Medicaid: 10% "Safety Net": 7.1% Social Security: 22.6% Medicare: 14.2% 53.9% of the federal budget is spent on welfare. That seems roughly in line with most Western nations.

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.

Not sure if this is comforting or distressing, but it's the same in all welfare states.
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