Receipt

While thumbing through the internet this morning, I came across something from NPR from a site called thirdwave.org. It was an itemized reciept for the taxes I've paid, presuming that I am an average Joe with an income of $34,140 paying $5,400 in federal income taxes and FICA. It was interesting to see what was costing us so much money that this tea party is so up in arms about.

To start off with were Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid with a combined take of $2051.49... a pretty big hunk of the money I put in every year. All of that is from the FICA side of the tax equation, meaning that of the $5,400 hunk, I pay $3348.51 in actual federal income tax. For now, let's just leave the Social Security stuff on its own. Let's just say that for a couple of grand, all of us feel at least a little more social and a bit more secure. At least the people I know who are the recipients of my largesse don't have to worry as much about paying the bills or where their next tin of cat food will be coming from.

Of the $3348.51 left over, $783.64 is being used for interest on the national debt, a war in Afghaniraq (which is being fought on money we borrowed and are paying interest on), military personnel and veteran's benefits. Now, to be fair, veteran's benefits only take out 10% of that chunk of change, and it would take a real Scrooge to say that the figure is too high. It probably isn't high enough. Still, $708.99 is not a bad deal to prevent us from being invaded by people from Afghaniraq whose primary problem at this point of the game is finding enough of them to be able to drive.

Look at it another way. We are paying $708.99 to help protect assets of people who make as much in an hour as we do in a year... assets like oil and a wealth of minerals which I read were found in the mountains of Peshwar which we'll never see, despite paying to protect them. If they were MY assets, I'd be more than happy to pay a huge premium on my income tax bill in order to protect those assets. Instead, the people with the assets are content to keep holding on to their assets while stirring us up to demand that the people with the assets not pay the premium that the protection deserves. There's the tea party in a nutshell.

Moving on down the list... Federal Highways cost us $63.89. In North Texas, we pay that and more per month in tolls, the profits from which benefit investors in... Spain. Foreign Aid, $46.08, presumably used for humanitarian aid. Right? Education funding K-12, $38.17. Pell grants for the older kids in truck driving school, $29.75. The Space Program (NASA) $28.09 so that we can send men to the moon to play golf and drink Tang. Wait a minute, that was 40 years ago.

We pay $14.35 for the FBI and the DEA combined. I would think that it would be better if we were to to tap the military's chunk of the dollars we spend to deal with the drug lords once and for all and help Mexico find decent work for the people who seem to seep over our borders illegally.

For National Parks, the Smithsonian and the Arts, we spend a mere $5.63, or a little more than 1% for that which is priceless to us.

We spend $2.23 for Amtrack. Perhaps we should spend more so that we can drive less.

Amazingly enough, the last item on the list are salaries and benefits for Members of Congress. A mere $0.19. A pittance, considering the millions of dollars spent by those with assets to protect in order to get our Congressman to listen to them, not us.

There are other items I left out, like $10.91 for Head Start (a program which has paid for itself many times over), $11.67 for environmental clean-up by the EPA and $10.50 for public housing - and given the way the economy seems to be heading, we all may be there sooner than later.

All in all, the average Joe gets pretty fair value for the money he spends in taxes. Where he (and I) are having a problem is with the other stuff we have to pay for ourselves - things like housing, food and medical expenses (I pay in the area of 12% of my income just in premiums, or, $4096.80 based on the $34,140 salary stated above). Granted that the insurance company paid out more for us this year than we paid in, but that isn't what usually happens. I'm being told that they are still making money hand over fist despite us.

I don't like to pay taxes any more than the next guy, and it really does make my blood boil when I get the occasional e-mail telling me about some crack whore or pimp taking undue advantage of that which we pay in taxes each year. But on the other hand, I'm just as mad about people with means taking advantage of my good nature and stealing correspondingly more, then setting up phoney baloney political movements to try to get me to feel sorry for them. Thirdway.org has at least given me, and others like me, a good idea as to where my taxes are going by providing a reciept for my purchase from the IRS ($17.69, a bargain at half the price).

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