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Where did my taxes go?

wherethefuckdidmytaxesgo.com

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Re: Where did my taxes go?

#201

Post by 9x39 »

doctorpangloss wrote: post #159
9x39 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Look, we spend a lot on things people want, right? I'd say we spend a lot on things a few people who can maintain/expand power see ROI for power on. Sometimes that's things, sometimes that's just cash for voters and future voters. The sliders world is more about consent via revenues of the governed, rather than the tax crop they really are.

we can go into an actual, interesting conversation about government spending. personally, i think your pessimistic, slightly nihilist, "people who can maintain/expand power" POV is just a different side of the same "voters are stupid" coin, in that it is also unelectable (no Mag7 CEO or top-500 billionaire could win an election today, people like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk even pay huge commissions to study it for…

I really wanted to peek at the site, but I came too late and didn't get to see it and still can't get it to load. I'm familiar with the discretionary vs non-discretionary entitlement breakdowns of the first 10-20 line items of the federal budget as you are, and it's uninteresting to me to complain about individual programs' worthiness because the problem is their aggregate bulk and the (unfixable?) incentives involved.

1. do you think slider world depends on the taxed having meaningful influence over spending? im thinking power split btw the diffused tax base vs the concentrated beneficiaries and the interests that allocated the spending

2. terminal illness breaks our price mechanism - what would we pay for our kid, another 20 years of life, to walk again, etc? but are we agreeing or disagreeing that solving things perfectly isn't the goal (with slider world, or today's system), and maybe isn't even possible? Fed gov doesn't have to work perfectly, it just needs to work.

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#202

Post by joquarky »

jerlam wrote: post #182
fimoreth wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always think as an individual I would like this. But at scale I worry it would incentivize each department to advertise themselves to the public, which seems to me like a waste of funds. I already dislike the reelection cycle (politicians incentivized to always be fundraising) and would hate to see that happen per department.

The police do something similar when a mayoral candidate promises to rein in police spending, it's called the blue flu and it's basically a strike.

I find it odd that the people with the kind of mindset that is driven to become police are even willing to entertain the idea of joining a union.

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#203

Post by janalsncm »

GetTheFacts wrote: post #196
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…

>each taxpayer could adjust little sliders on each category to allocate where they personally would like their taxes to go. If that were the case, I'd go all in on hookers and blow.

> The federal government spends $222k per second

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#204

Post by pclowes »

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.

I did not know this, really puts a perspective on it, thanks

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#205

Post by idiotsecant »

animal_spirits wrote: post #165
Teever wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I would not put this on America being a failed state. Rather the more 'successful' European countries are far more homogenous in demographics than America ever will be. In Denmark, nearly everyone has the same cultural background and similar values, and are striving for a relatively unified vision/goal for the country. In America, there is such an overwhelming diversity in values and cultures, and added animosity bet…

[flagged]

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#206

Post by [deleted] »

overfeed wrote: post #169
animal_spirits wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would not put this on America being a failed state. Rather the more 'successful' European countries are far more homogenous in demographics than America ever will be. In Denmark, nearly everyone has the same cultural background and similar values, and are striving for a relatively unified vision/goal for the country. In America, there is such an overwhelming diversity in values and cultures, and added animosity bet…

> Rather the more 'successful' European countries are far more homogenous in demographics than America ever will be. In Denmark, nearly everyone has the same cultural background and similar values, and are striving for a relatively unified vision/goal for the country. Can you explain this reasoning without implying American political leaders (or perhaps broader society) are racist? As a counterpoint France, Germany,…

[deleted]

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#207

Post by renewiltord »

K0nserv wrote: post #43
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.

The US spends the most per capita[0] on healthcare in the world, all to receive a healthcare system that still requires lots of citizens to carry private insurance. I've never dug deep into why, but it sure is noteworthy. 0: https://www.statista.com/statistics/283221/per-capita-health...

That’s because we pay people well. A low level pharmacy benefits admin makes more than head of cybersecurity for the UK or a doctor in Germany. When you people well, your spending goes up. You can’t pay people a lot and have low spending.

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#208

Post by remarkEon »

bdangubic wrote: post #198
remarkEon wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a place as diverse as America, democracy starts to resemble a racial headcount. Elections start to hinge on explicit appeals to particular ethnicities or sub groups. Political parties are very loud about this and they don’t try to hide it at all. I thought it was clear why this only happens in America (the aforementioned diversity).

what does this have to do with tax policy?

If some groups are disproportionately benefited by certain social spending while a different group is disproportionately impacted by the associated taxes to fund said spending, you get a divergence in the ability to burden share across groups (this is the case in the United States). As a result of this, spending is funded by debt.

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#209

Post by insane_dreamer »

Get rid of the national debt.

Cut the military budget by 50%.

I wish I could cut my taxes in half and refuse to have them go to the military budget or servicing the debt.

I'm happy for my taxes to go to all the rest (which could be increased).

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#210

Post by ekjhgkejhgk »

animal_spirits wrote: post #165
Teever wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I would not put this on America being a failed state. Rather the more 'successful' European countries are far more homogenous in demographics than America ever will be. In Denmark, nearly everyone has the same cultural background and similar values, and are striving for a relatively unified vision/goal for the country. In America, there is such an overwhelming diversity in values and cultures, and added animosity bet…

You think that Europe is more homogeneous than the USA? First time I my life I hear that argument.
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