Tax Day: Tax Receipt Calculator Shows You Where Your Money Will Go

April 17, 2011— -- As millions rush to put their last-minute federal tax returns in the mail, a new web site is giving people the chance to see where every penny of their tax dollars will go.

Moderate Washington think tank Third Way has launched a federal tax receipt calculator that shows users a breakdown of how taxes are spent.

"Consumers get information about so many things," said David Kendall, a senior fellow at Third Way. "You get nutrition labeling. You know where your clothes are made. But when you pay for your taxes, you're basically clueless."

Click here to calculate your federal tax receipt at ThirdWay.org.

The calculator breaks down tax dollars in easy-to-understand categories, divided according to the federal budget.

Take a typical family of four -- a mother, father and two kids -- who earn an income of roughly $70,000 a year. They pay roughly $7,000 a year in federal taxes.

Twenty percent of that income, some $1,400, pays into Social Security. Another 20 percent pays for defense, including everything from the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan to spending on weapons and other equipment.

A big chunk also pays for healthcare costs. Medicare gets 13 percent or about $900, and Medicaid gets 8 percent or about $550.

The rest of the money is split across numerous different programs, paying for everything from education to veterans affairs to arts spending.

In some cases, the tiny percentages are surprising. Foreign aid, for example, gets less than 1 percent, or about $40. Just $1 goes to cover the expenses of the White House.

Nelson believes it's important that tax payers know where their money goes, and seeing federal spending come out of your pocket can make people feel more connected to government.

"We have this huge debate going on about our national priorities, and when people think that 20 percent of the budget goes to foreign aid, how can you have an intelligent debate?" Nelson said.

White House Launches Tax Receipt Calculator

The White House has also released its own version of the tax receipt calculator, making good on a promise from President Obama in his State of the Union address.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers from the House and the Senate like the idea so much that they've proposed making receipts mandatory in years to come.

And Nelson says that maybe even the IRS should back the idea.

"People are more likely to pay their taxes when they see that they're getting value for the dollar," he said.

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