Filed under: Personal Finance, News
Taxes have suddenly become even more upsetting to some people since January 2009. Despite the fact that President Obama's stimulus package gave momentary tax relief to 95% of working Americans, the paranoid fear that our children are going to be taxed into chattel slavery because of these tax cuts is a narrative that the GOP/Tea Party has pushed with some measure of success thus far.
Their ability to decry staggering deficits while not wanting to raise taxes on even the richest Americans defies logic. But somehow Republicans have made repealing the Bush tax cuts for the rich such a toxic concept that they forced the Democrats (shocker!) to table this idea. The November elections will show whether these political shenanigans will actually work, but I give the GOP credit for finding an opening to promote their cause where none really existed.
That said, with all of this talk about taxes and tax cuts, how many people even know how much they pay in taxes annually, or where all that money is actually going? Ask most people how tax monies are spent, and you'll inevitably hear terms like "welfare," "public housing," "food stamps," and "Obamacare". Dividing Americans into a "Productive Us vs. Shiftless Them" has been a GOP tactic for years. But is this actually true?
A recent study by a noted liberal think-tank broke down how the taxes of a typical working American are actually distributed. You might be shocked to find out where your money's really going:
According to the IRS website, in 2008 the median tax filer in America had an adjusted gross income of $34,140 and paid $2,790 in federal income taxes. Assuming that all of that income was earned through wages, this filer would also contribute $2,610 to Social Security and Medicare through FICA. That is a total of $5,400 in federal tax and FICA payments. ('A Taxpayer Receipt')
So, of that $5,400 in federal taxes, where exactly does the money go?
A staggering 30% of it goes to entitlements like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid that many of us pay into for years, but can't use until much later in life, assuming we make it that far. No politician with a desire to get re-elected will ever consider touching these social safety nets, despite how much smoke they might blow.
And what about the remainder of your tax money? Check it out:
-A mere 5% goes to paying off interest on the national debt. Yep, we're China's b*tch.
-Roughly 5% goes towards funding active and retired service members.
-Only about $10 goes towards public housing, and just $46 in foreign aid goes toward feeding the starving chirrens in Africa.
-Funding the bozos in Congress costs only about 19 cents. Clearly, we get what we pay for.
Of course these aren't the only tax dollars we get stuck for, because everyone pays state and local taxes as well, but these findings do raise some interesting questions. They also make the complaints of Glenn Beck's fans seem pretty stupid.
So will people stop outright saying and otherwise implying that black people on welfare is what is making taxes so high? Please?
Are you shocked to know how your taxes are spent? Did you assume "poor, non-working folks" were getting more of your hard earned cash?
Can we expect all of this stuff to get paid for on it's own without raising taxes at some point? Does anyone really need a tax cut right now, considering how dire our national debt/deficit supposedly is?
Would you be willing to forgo Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid in order to save money on your taxes?