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Where did my taxes go?

wherethefuckdidmytaxesgo.com

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Re: Where did my taxes go?

#51

Post by jimbokun »

Alupis wrote: post #31
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.

Yet, people still meme how unsupportive the US is to its people. The reality is the US operates the world's largest social services apparatus, including the world's largest public healthcare system.

The problem is that our public health care system could cover the entire country at no additional cost…if our health care spending per capita was inline with other nations with better health outcomes.

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#52

Post by silentsea90 »

Alupis wrote: post #31
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.

Yet, people still meme how unsupportive the US is to its people. The reality is the US operates the world's largest social services apparatus, including the world's largest public healthcare system.

Both can be true. US spends a ton but people feel the pain because the money is spent poorly

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#53

Post by [deleted] »

Alupis wrote: post #31
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.

Yet, people still meme how unsupportive the US is to its people. The reality is the US operates the world's largest social services apparatus, including the world's largest public healthcare system.

[deleted]

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#54

Post by mikepurvis »

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.

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 essential services that are delivered by the state to citizens?

[1]: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/rankings/quality-...

[2]: https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2...

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#55

Post by ch4s3 »

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...

The private insurance expenditure is part of that per capita number. US healthcare isn't "A system", its a number of interrelated systems that have lots of expensive hand-offs. We also spend a ton on lifestyles diseases because no one walks and culturally we eat like shit on average.

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#56

Post by phillipcarter »

jimbokun wrote: post #40
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.

I don’t think that’s true. US government services generally have very low overhead.

It's quite true. Take Medicaid grants to states for example, which then goes out to 50 different systems of disbursement to private entities. Enrollees on plans are often done so through private insurers, many hospitals are run as for-profit including being owned by PE groups, etc.

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#57

Post by silentsea90 »

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.

Playing devil's advocate - the measure of success of welfare isn't in the budget spent on it but public outcomes. That said, it is true more taxes or expenditure aren't the panacea that the left might think it is.

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#58

Post by cucumber3732842 »

fimoreth wrote: post #46
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 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.

It would probably be wasteful initially but I doubt it would be more wasteful than bad policy that doesn't actually prioritize what the electorate wants.

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#59

Post by airstrike »

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.

Non-profit doesn't mean money-hating, though

Re: Where did my taxes go?

#60

Post by fhdkweig »

fimoreth wrote: post #46
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 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.

Does PBS still do telethons like in days of old?
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