What is the Federal Government Spending Your Tax Money On?

With tax day having come and gone, everyone can rest a little easier. One question on some taxpayers minds, though, is where does all that tax money actually go?

This year the government is providing some good insight into where the money is going: the White House's website this year has a taxpayer receipt program where you can enter your tax payments and find out roughly how much you've contributed to what programs.

For those who don't feel like fishing out their own personal data, below we've provided what a typical Montrose family might pay. 

For taxpayers of every income, the percentage spent on the income tax categories will be the same, but it should be noted that the amount spent on Social Security and Medicare versus the amount spent on income taxes can vary greatly for taxpayers depending on their income level. 

For our purposes, we'll explore the theoretical taxes of a family with an income of $80,000 and two children.

That household would pay a total of $9,983, of which $4,960 would go to Social Security taxes, $1,160 would go to Medicare taxes, and $3863 would go to income tax.  The below table breaks down how the $3863 that goes to income tax is split up.

On the White House page, some of the above categories are broken down into greater detail, allowing you to view subcategories.