Almost Half of U.S. Tax Money Goes to military and Health Care [View all]

[kpete]

Almost Half of U.S. Tax Money Goes to military and Health Care
Friday, April 06, 2012

For those paying income taxes later this month and wondering just what their money goes toward, here is a breakdown of how the U.S. government spends it.

One quarter of all income taxes are consumed by national defense, which represents the largest slice of the tax-money pie. More precisely, 10.3% goes to “ongoing operations;” 7.9% to research, development, weapons and constructions; and 5.6% to salaries and benefits.

Almost another quarter (23.7%) is spent on health care programs, such as Medicare (10.5%) and Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (10.0%).

Among the other big ticket categories are veterans’ benefits (4.5%), military and civilian retirement and disability payments (4.4%), and food and nutrition assistance (3.7%). And—not to be overlooked—interest on the national debt…8.1%.

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