Tracking the Tax Man

I haven’t posted to this blog lately, not out of laziness but just because I’ve been uninspired. Not depressed, I’ve actually been laughing extensively, but just disconnected. My friends and family know that the most recent inspiration has actually been political. I won’t go into great detail here at the moment – instead I’m going to focus on a byproduct of that inspiration. And since I've lost all my readers by now, I can't lose anymore by posting snoozefest financial information....

You did what with my money?

I've been thinking a lot about the connection between government transparency/honesty and motivating people to feel involved. For instance, I accept that I might not agree on everything the Federal Government 'has' to spend money on (even if it was ideal). However, with good reason and if was for the benefit of a large percentage of the population, I would be fine with it. More importantly, I would feel better if I just understood.

This led me to the conclusion that even though we pay taxes, we don't feel connected to what happens with our money because it's spoken in billions and abstract terms. We don't think of ourselves as stakeholders in the US - like any good investor in a company would.

In my searches, I found this organization. You enter in your tax for 2006 (2007 is too recent to have closed financials) and it illustrated where your money went.

http://www.nationalpriorities.org/taxchart

In addition, they have a cost of war section. I know some people that don’t support withdrawing from Iraq immediately for various reasons, but then I started thinking OK, but what would you do to support that cause.

----Would you go yourself?
----Would you send your children or grandchildren?
----Would you give $5,000 of your own money?
----Would you deny 44 million people health care?
----What about just denying health care to all the people in your class/apartment buildling/church?

And this section lets you compare that - even by city and see what the money could have done instead. I know it's not as simple as this - but it's a way to think about priorities and realize that everything is a choice. It’s the same as the choices we make each day with our own money. Unfortunately, it is not a never ending pool - and thinking like that is what resulted 19% (!) of my money going to interest on the national debt.

http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home