How Much Would You Pay in Federal Taxes and How is it Spent

link here to graph

This site (via Manan Shukla) has information that every American should understand. In this example, they show how much federal taxes would take from a single filer who earned $50 K and filed with the stander deduction. It then shows where the federal government spends the money with an interactive pie chart. That graph is independent of one's income.

Polls show that most American's would like to cut government spending by focusing on the areas that would have little impact. For example, most Americans would believe that cutting international programs would have a big impact yet it is a minute part of the federal budget. Similarly, the GOP has no interest in cutting defense, which is more than 50% of discretionary spending, but it wants to cut parts of the remainder of discretionary spending that appeals to its base. For example, they want to feed red meat to their base by cutting spending on national public radio, family planning, and many other programs which account for extremely minor parts of the budget. This is pure electioneering, but it only works because most American's, especially the GOP base, have no idea about where the federal money is spent. It also pretty clear that mandatory spending on entitlements and interest is huge relative to non-defense discretionary spending. This is the area that requires attention longer term because it is the fastest growing part of the budget. Healthcare costs are the most important area of concern. Spending is rising because of an aging population and the fact that healthcare prices are rising faster than GDP. The GOP plan, under Ryan, has no focus on price inflation. Ryan proposes to shift the cost of price inflation to senior citizens. Moreover, his plan would get rid of Medicare which is more efficient than private insurance companies in collecting premiums and paying benefits. Medicare also negotiates lower prices to healthcare providers better than private insurers. The added cost of private insurer inefficiency and ineffectiveness in controlling price inflation, would add trillions of dollars to the cost of healthcare that would be transferred from retirees to the insurance companies and to healthcare providers.