Given I'm a starving student with a family I don't pay much taxes. However, for fun I decide to pretend I payed $1000 in federal income tax. The graphic below shows where the dollars would be going.
Little surprise defense and health care get the most. Interestingly, $12 of my $1000 go to science related issues with NASA alone getting $7 of that cut. (I think we need a sub-category for how much goes to JWST. :))
Enjoy!
Interesting that only part of Medicare is paid for by payroll taxes - I was under the impression that like Social Security it was not funded by income taxes.
ReplyDeleteIt does warm my soul to know that science is getting a penny for dollar sent in to the IRS today.
Bulk of the Medicare payments go to doctors and pharma, two of the richest group in our society. These groups lobby the most against Medicare! The reason is simple: ultimately, payments to these fellows will be similar to what they get in Europe and Canada. In Germany, a doctor makes less than an engineer, same is true in UK and Canada; while in the US, a doctor makes TEN times or more than an engineer or a scientist. Same is true for drugs, they cost way more here.
ReplyDeleteWhy such disparity? Anybody can do engineering with or without degree; and, we can do engineering anywhere in the world, so we compete internationally. This is not the case for doctors. There in lies the solution: inject competition and remove the doctoring and lawyering of this essential social need.
The list may also be disingenuous, as there is no homeland security nor black programs listed here. It gives us a false sense that we live within our means by only accounting for the interest expense, and not worry about paying or incurring more debt. It is always about seeing the world through rosy glasses.
Hmmm, warm fuzzies. I agree, it's nice to see some of it going to science.
ReplyDeleteJS,
ReplyDeleteLook at NASA budget and find out the priority for JWST! You know that most of NASA work is being privatized except some science missions. I doubt there will be NASA by 2020.
No major country spends 26% of its budget on defense. Most get away with about 8%. Why is it that we spend so much on defense and engage in adventurous wars?
ReplyDeleteFurther, the tax burden on the richest has fallen to lowest level in the history, and, nearly 45% of households do not pay any taxes.
So deficit spending is by design, it is not going to be solved. I have a theory analogous to lemmings rise in population except the dynamics are driven by memes and resource in the case of lemmings.
Until we arrive at nearly identical meme in all factions, the looters and moochers will reign.