Taxes: Here's Where Your Tax Money Just Went

Almost $10,000 on military? Why not more for schools, one man asks.

ByABC News
April 18, 2011, 8:51 PM

April 19, 2011 -- Taxpayers can now use an online calculator to see where every dollar they've just paid the IRS will go.

Called Your Federal Taxpayer Receipt, the tool is part of the White House website, which describes it as way for tax filers to understand "how and where your tax dollars are being spent."

Want to see how much money you just paid to NASA? To railroad retirees? For military R&D, natural disaster relief, or for vocational education? It's all there, and to the penny -- your total tax bill divided up among some 40 programs and services. The allocations are based on the percentage of overall federal spending each category got in fiscal 2010.

Reactions from the first taxpayers to get Receipts ranged from anger to amusement, from resignation to surprise.

"My first reaction? Shock," says Ray, who requested that his full name not be used. Married, with two children, the 47-year-old president of a mid-sized software company confesses that he never before had paid much attention to his taxes.

"I've always had a CPA do them," he says. He expects to get a little money back this year. "I won't be seeing it, but it makes my wife happy."

To use the tax tool, Ray first plugged three numbers into the White House website: how much he paid in Social Security taxes ($6,600), in Medicare taxes ($3,200), and income tax ($38,000). The result, he says, was enlightening -- especially what he's spending to keep the nation safe.

"I mean, I don't mind paying taxes," Ray says. "Freedom is worth the price. But 26.3 percent on defense? That's $9,994 I'm paying."

Under that same heading, he notes, "ongoing operations, equipment and supplies" account for 10.5 percent of his taxes (and of everybody else's).

"I bet the majority of that is going for Tomahawk missiles we use in other countries where we're on the offense, not the defense," he says. "That's money that could better be spent right here in the U.S.."