WASHINGTON, April 15, 2008
Tax Time: Here's Your "Receipt"
From Defense, To National Parks To Education ... How Your Tax Dollars Are Spent
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Play CBS Video Video Last Minute Tax Tips If you've waited until the last minute to file your taxes, listen up; Stephanie AuWerter, Editor of SmartMoney.com, has some advice for filing down to the wire returns.
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Video Is Your Tax Refund Too Big? Some families are looking at thousands of dollars in tax refunds and rebates this season. Janice Revell, senior writer at Money magazine, has a few tips for managing your money.
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Video Where Tax Dollars Go The largest percentage of American tax dollars pay for defense, followed closely by social security. Bob Orr reports.
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(CBS/AP)
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Interactive U.S. Taxes Find out more about where your dollars go, and take a quiz on filing with the IRS.
As CBS News correspondent Bob Orr reports, once the deadline's been met, how does the money end up getting spent?
In total, the average tax bill this year tops $13,000, and most taxpayers have no idea what the government is doing with their cash.
"They might know in some broad sense that we spend hundreds of billions of dollars on this or that, but they have no idea really what their money is going for," says taxpayer advocate Jim Kessler.
Kessler's non-profit group has prepared a "receipt" - an itemized breakout of government spending.
What's Uncle Sam is spending the most taxpayer money on? Defense.
The average American household is paying $2,761 for defense in 2007, or put another way, enough to cover 12 car payments for a new Honda Accord.
Social Security is nearly as expensive: $2,663. That's about enough to heat and cool a home for a year.
Read the report "What You Paid For." The average household is paying $19 for the office that tracks hurricanes, about the cost of a fancy umbrella. And just over $12 for National Parks, the cost of one bleacher seat at D.C.'s new Nationals Park.
Some items seem like relative bargains: $313 for education; $99 for farmers; just $62 for all federal law enforcement.
But another big ticket item is interest on the National Debt. For this, the average taxpayer is forking out more than $1,000 this year.
"That's like taking $1,000 and lighting a match to it," Kessler said.
Some government spending is paid for with pocket change. The Consumer Product Safety Commission, which monitors toy safety, costs just 29 cents a year. And the White House? Even less. It costs just 18 cents.
But nothing about government is free.
The tax man himself at the IRS costs the average American family $49 a year - about the same price of the software you'll need for next year's taxes.
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Add a Comment See all 25 Comments
- Average Taxpayer Paid 13,112.00????
im getting Ripped off, I Paid 32,000
........ im getting ripped off big time!!!!! - Reply to this comment
- The bottom 40% of American earners pay no federal income tax because of the Bush tax cuts. Basically, everyone under $58K. Most get help from the government to live.
Posted by donbl1
That''s hilarious. Most of the people that I know their total (husband and wife)household income is around this amount and are paying more taxes and DO NOT get government assistance because they make too much money!!! So I''d like to know where you''re getting your info. - Reply to this comment
- "We could have sent four bombers with small nuclear bombs to the middle east. One to a large city in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Syria.
Posted by ****-OF-IT at 11:11 PM : Apr 15, 2008"
What about Saudi Arabia, not gonna nuke them? That''s where the 911 terrorists came from after all.
So by your "logic" during WWII we should have bombed Switzerland, Finland, Iceland and Portugal since they had absolutely nothing to do with the attack on Pearl harbor either. Did I get that right ? - Reply to this comment
- "o, the Democrats complaining that the rich do not pay their share is demagoguery.
Posted by donbl1 at 11:26 PM : Apr 15, 2008"
You mind linking something to justify your numbers. Claiming that Bush''s tax cuts have eliminated taxes for the bottom 40% and that the top 40% pay 99.4% of taxes seems way out there but if you have some numbers published somewhere to justify that... - Reply to this comment
- "We could have sent four bombers with small nuclear bombs to the middle east. One to a large city in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Syria." by ****-OF-IT
Next time a gang member of Los Angeles targets civillians maybe we should nuke Los Angeles... - Reply to this comment
- Most taxpayers have no idea what the government is doing with their money? I know. It''s going to Cheney.
- Reply to this comment
- Posted by donbl1 at 11:26 PM
Oh really? Well, why don''t we just eliminate the tax for the bottom American earners since they only contribute 1 percent, and see how long the gov can get by with what the rich pay? - Reply to this comment
- Actually, this "average" stuff is misleading.
The bottom 40% of American earners pay no federal income tax because of the Bush tax cuts. Basically, everyone under $58K. Most get help from the government to live.
The bottom 60% of American earners pay .6% (less than 1%) of the total taxes.
The top 40% pay 99.4% of all income taxes.
So, the Democrats complaining that the rich do not pay their share is demagoguery. - Reply to this comment
- We did not need this WAR to stop terrorism. We needed leadership. We declared War and should have given it a few hours after we all watched our loved ones die in the Towers. We could have sent four bombers with small nuclear bombs to the middle east. One to a large city in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Syria. Then made a news statement that we were even and would stop until the next terrorist act. Have we forgotten how to wage war. We won WWII by being meaner than the enemy. If you want to win a War, that is what it takes. We would have had more support from the UN at that time. Elect "JOE the SHERIFF" in Arizona, He is the kind of leader we need. I was a Vet in Nam and am a Christian who will still defend freedom. No matter the cost. THANK YOU TROOPS FOR SERVING AMERICA but it is time we learned our mistakes in Korea, Vietnam, and now Iraq. Bring The Boys Home, stop trading with China "the Enemy", tend to the USA at least till we get in black ink again. Absorb Mexico and make them pay taxes like us. Let them in only if they want to be Americans like the wave of immigrants after WWII who came to work and Love America. Use common since like JOE.
- Reply to this comment
- We did not need this WAR to stop terrorism. We needed leadership. We declared War and should have given it a few hours after we all watched our loved ones die in the Towers. We could have sent four bombers with small nuclear bombs to the middle east. One to a large city in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Syria. Then made a news statement that we were even and would stop until the next terrorist act. Have we forgotten how to wage war. We won WWII by being meaner than the enemy. If you want to win a War, that is what it takes. We would have had more support from the UN at that time. Elect "JOE the SHERIFF" in Arizona, He is the kind of leader we need. I was a Vet in Nam and am a Christian who will still defend freedom. No matter the cost. THANK YOU TROOPS FOR SERVING AMERICA but it is time we learned our mistakes in Korea, Vietnam, and now Iraq. Bring The Boys Home, stop trading with China "the Enemy", tend to the USA at least till we get in black ink again. Absorb Mexico and make them pay taxes like us. Let them in only if they want to be Americans like the wave of immigrants after WWII who came to work and Love America. Use common since like JOE.
- Reply to this comment
Ex-NBA ref Tim Donaghy 
