One of the reasons Americans have voted in so many policies and benefits is that they never considered the costs of the benefits or how much they would pay for it. Anything that is provided by the government is funded by the US tax payer either now or in the future.
Whenever taxes are withheld from your paycheck, everyone knows they are paying for roads, social programs, education, and police. But how much do you individually pay for these things?
If you are curious, you can pull up your last year's tax return and allocate the amount of tax owed by the expenses of the federal government.
In 2015, the United States federal spending was $3.7 trillion. Of this amount, the six largest budget items make up about 88% of total spending. The six largest budget items are as follows.
Medicare/Medicaid $1008 billion
Social Security $889 billion
Defense/War $583 billion
Income Security (government assistance programs) $303 billion
Federal Pensions $257 billion
Interest on the United States debt $228 billion
As a percentage of total federal spending, the break down is listed below.
Medicare/Medicaid 27%
Social Security 24%
Defense/War 16%
Income Security 8%
Federal Pensions 7%
Interest on the United States debt 6%
For example, lets say Bill paid the federal government $3900 in taxes for 2015. This how much he would have paid for the six largest federal budget items.
Medicare/Medicaid $1053
Social Security $936
Defense/War $592
Income Security $312
Federal Pensions $273
Interest on the United States debt $234
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