Government Spending

by Lou Barletta - No Comments
Posted on May 5th, 2010 2:48 pm

Most Americans don’t know where their tax dollars go.

That’s because the federal government has done a good job at keeping that information hidden. Most of your tax burden comes out of your paycheck, and all you see are the payroll deduction section on your pay stub.

This year, Washington will collect more than $18,000 in taxes from each American household, according to the Heritage Foundation.

But, as Heritage points out, Washington will spend more than $31,400 per American household.

Adjusted for inflation, that’s the highest level ever.

It doesn’t take a math whiz to see there’s a $13,000 difference between what the federal government collects and what it spends.

That $13,000 per household is this year’s debt. Add it to the other debt the federal government accrued over the years and you can see the massive burden we’re leaving for your children, grandchildren, and a number of generations after that.

Federal spending is out of control. Since 2008, it has increased by $5,000 per American household.

So where do your tax dollars go?

Of the $31,400 in per-household federal spending, almost one-third of it ($9,949) goes to Social Security and Medicare. This huge expenditure shows why reform of both programs is necessary.

The next $6,000 goes toward defense, including operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, military pay, and research and development.

Close behind are anti-poverty programs, which draw $5,400 of the per-household spending. These include food stamps, housing subsidies, and the federal subsidies of state programs. Former President George W. Bush increased this spending to record levels during his terms, and it grew another 32 percent under President Obama (since 2008).

The next commitment is more than $1,600 for unemployment benefits. During the current recession, this cost grew more than 400 percent.

The last big-ticket item is the $1,585 per-household to pay interest on the federal debt. The federal government is $13 trillion in debt. Politicians in Washington raided the Social Security Trust Fund and other federal agencies to get about $4 trillion of that, but the rest of the debt is publicly held. We’ve been fortunate that low interest rates have kept those interest payments down.

However, the national debt is expected to double by 2020, according to Heritage. Combined with higher interest rates and the annual interest costs will quadruple to $6,000 per household.

It has to stop.

Our greedy politicians in Washington cannot keep writing blank check after blank check.  They’re spending us past the point of no return.

When you look at the facts, it’s no wonder that Washington politicians support tax increases.

But tax increases only go so far, so they look to initiate other punitive schemes, like the tolling of Interstate 80. This is just another form of taxation, and it will increase traffic on local roads, like Route 11, Route 940, and Route 93. The increased traffic on local roads will lead to more accidents and it will break down those roads faster, leading to increased and accelerated repair costs, and that will increase the local and state tax burden. Those are just some of the reasons why I vehemently oppose the tolling of I-80.

So far, the plan to toll I-80 has been rejected three times, but that doesn’t stop its advocates. There’s talk of taking a fourth crack at getting the plan approved.

This persistent battle indicates just how far and how long politicians are willing to fight to take more of your money.

Politicians in Washington are greedy and sneaky. They will continue to spend more of your tax dollars – and the tax dollars of your children and grandchildren, then they will continue to come up with innovative ways to make you pay for that spending.

Greedy Washington politicians are addicted to spending your money. In November, if you vote them out of office, you can take away their checkbook.

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