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Where did my taxes go?

wherethefuckdidmytaxesgo.com

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Re: Where did my taxes go?

#141

Post by bko »

slg wrote: post #134
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…

>It is not realistic to believe that we can become a nice wholesome European country if we just raise taxes a bit. This feels like a strawman. I can't recall ever hearing someone advocate for raising taxes and not changing a single other thing about the government. These ideas are all interconnected and someone advocating for increased taxes very likely has ideas about how spending should change too.

That's like increasing your going out budget at the same time as moderating your excessive drinking.

The more money that's up for grabs, the higher the incentives for fraud and general abuse.

I think the people that believe in a more efficient welfare state should look to reallocate the money. No one would complain. Instead it's always the promise that just [X] more billion from [billionaire] and we could solve homelessness

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#142

Post by jen20 »

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…

> I live in a place with basically zero property taxes

The biggest financial culture shock between the UK and the US is the property tax situation. The UK has a "council tax" paid by the _occupier_ (i.e. the renter, if a house is rented) that pays for local services, and it's in the low thousands of pounds per year regardless of the value of a house.

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#143

Post by janalsncm »

pc86 wrote: post #135
janalsncm wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is interesting because in a roundabout way this is essentially asking what taxes are for in the first place. You will probably get some kind of “tyranny of the majority/rich”. For example, if you have a country on the older side, most people will vote to heavily fund social security at the expense of education. As the demographics change, would be no mechanism to correct the issue. Demographics become destiny. Sim…

> California subsidizes the majority of states for example. California doesn't pay taxes though, people in California do. Not trying to be pedantic but this is a common framing that is, at its core, completely incorrect. States don't subsidize states because taxes aren't earmarked based on what state they came out of, it's all just government reallocation of wealth by one means or another. Even if you were to accept…

The point is that taxes can be allocated to things you do not directly benefit from.

I am aware of the fact that states do not subsidize states, but actually drilling down to the taxpayer level makes the argument even stronger. As long as there are regional differences in benefits from federal funding, you get the same effect.

The farming states benefit disproportionately from farm subsidies. Oil producing states benefit disproportionately from oil subsidies. And states near DC benefit disproportionately from federal bureaucracies.

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#144

Post by vslira »

jl6 wrote: post #131
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…

I think many Americans do not realize how much is spent on debt interest payments, which are a tidy source of income for rich people.

I don’t think Americans would enjoy the alternative of defaulting on that debt, or the counterfactual of not having raised that debt in the first place

But yeah, having to pay your debts do suck

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#145

Post by verall »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #85
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…

Taxes do not fund spending. This is a foundational myth of neoliberalism, closely related to the "A national economy is run like a household" myth. The alternative is Modern Monetary Theory, which states that the government and banking sector money creation fund spending, and governments cannot run out of currency. Taxes control the money supply and mop up excess funds, which controls inflation. Bonds set interest ra…

This is also how I see it, and honestly it is hard to understand it any other way. In the current year, it seems very clear that governments can get away with incredible debt spending, as long as it's mostly in the right direction.

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#146

Post by bdangubic »

fortran77 wrote: post #122
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...

we should also break it down by state and determine distribution of electoral college votes based on it

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#147

Post by Teever »

zahlman wrote: post #138
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…

> 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. Why, in your view, doesn't the same thing happen to them?

Simply put the people in those countries who spend the money care about the people who gave them the money.

They view themselves as stewards of these resources and genuinely want to spend them optimally to ensure the best return for everyone in society including future generations.

That isn't the case in America and will never be the case.

America is a failed state.

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#148

Post by mikepurvis »

zahlman wrote: post #140
mikepurvis wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given that reality, I wonder why it is that spending in this category seems to be so much less effective in the US relative to other nations? Why is the US #22 in general quality of life [1], and the bottom of many rankings of health system performance [2]? Speaking as a Canadian, I wonder if at least part of it is the attitude that investments in these areas are "welfare" and not simply a part of the portfolio of es…

> Speaking as a Canadian, I wonder if at least part of it is the attitude that investments in these areas are "welfare" and not simply a part of the portfolio of essential services that are delivered by the state to citizens? Also speaking as a Canadian, I don't understand the distinction you're drawing.

The distinction is in whether there's a value judgment. Is healthcare and welfare something we assume is part of the package living in a developed nation, or is it an indulgent extra, subject to suspicion and scrutiny above and beyond what essentials like military spending get?

I would say that the mainstream Canadian view is the opposite of this. We expect healthcare funding and many are supportive of the strikes when it gets cut, but we are much more likely to treat military budget as the purchase of a lot of unnecessary toys.

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#149

Post by Dig1t »

>Key laws that shaped FY2025 spending

>P.L. 118-50

>Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act

-$4.0B to replenish Iron Dome and David's Sling interceptors

—$1.2B for Iron Beam laser defense system development

—$3.5B in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) for Israel

—$4.4B to replenish U.S. defense articles transferred to Israel

—$2.4B for USCENTCOM operations in the region

—Funded as a supplemental outside normal appropriations

Most Americans have no idea how much money we give to this tiny nation on the other side of the world.

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