Everyone loves to complain about taxes. Now we can complain with much more specificity. Or maybe just satisfy our curiosity about where exactly all that money goes.
The White House has launched an online taxpayer receipt calculator that lets you know, dollar by dollar, what your taxes paid for. As the administration puts it, "Just enter a few pieces of information about your taxes, and the taxpayer receipt will give you a breakdown of how your tax dollars are spent on priorities like education, veterans benefits, or health care."
An example: MSN reports that, according to the tool, a married couple with two children and an annual income of $80,000 would see three-fourths of their taxes distributed among the top three areas of federal spending: $1,016, or 26.3 percent, to national defense; $938, or 24.3 percent, to health care; and $846, or 21.9 percent, to "job and family security" (unemployment insurance, food stamps, etc.)
Will you try it out? Or is the only number you care about the one that represents your bank-account balance after all things tax related are said and done?
Check out the calculator at whitehouse.gov.
Read more at MSN.
In other news: Santorum Uses Langston Hughes-Inspired Campaign Slogan.
Like The Root on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.