So I'm assuming that 33% is an average of the brackets.......
While the US Tax system is incredibly unnecessarily complex-- I'd also think that it would be hard to argue that your life is ruined while you simultaneously point out that you are well into the 6 figures as far as income goes....
Your argument here is also akin to the argument many make in regards to universal health care. Yes-- countries that have it pay more in taxes... but not by much and they get a lot more for their money. Mind you--- I'm not necessarily arguing for that I'm just stating that its a common argument made.
So where DO those dollars go?
These are approximations and do have variance of plus or minus a percentage point:
Defense-- 16%
Social Security-- 22%
Health Programs (Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP)-- about 25%-- with 2/3 of that being Medicare as states are required to match money for the other two programs
Safety Net Programs (unemployment, food stamps, public housing, cash assistance, foster system)-- 9%
Interest on the National Debt-- 8%
Federal Retirees and Veterans-- 7%
Other (Scientific research, medical research, transportation, infrastructure, education, non-security international spending and "all other categories)-- 12%
A side note about social security. Aside from the biggest problem being that the govt. continually treats it like their own personal piggy bank... one of the problems is the cap. If you live more than 7 years past retirement.. you will have spent everything you put into the system. High wage earners are capped at a certain point and its relatively low. As wages increase-- there needs to be some consideration given to raising the cap Current cap is 137k.
Originally Posted by Grace Preston
I didn't say my life is ruined. I said the Feds try to make my life miserable. I figured that's exactly where you were going to take this when I answered your question. And was pleased you didn't dwell on that, and had substantive points to add.
Let's look at your list.
Defense - We spent $778 billion on military expenditures in 2020. The next nine countries, being China, India, Russia, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Germany, France, Japan and South Korea, spent $610 billion combined. WTF?
Social Security - I already dodged this by not including social security tax in my calculation of my 33% federal income tax burden, as presumably I'll get part of it back someday. But since you bring it up... We should copy the Superannuation scheme in Australia or the Central Provident Fund in Singapore. Instead of Social Security, use employer and employee contributions to contribute to real retirement plans, not a Ponzi scheme.
Health Programs - The USA spends 17% of GDP on health care. The second highest in the developed world is Germany, clocking in at 12%. Many countries have health care outcomes far superior to ours, in terms of longevity and and the like, at far lower cost. Costa Rica knocks our socks off. Singapore, which spends 4% of GDP, has a system that provides universal health care and makes hospitals and providers compete, based on quality and price. If only we were so lucky. The federal government is a big part of the problem. Not only does it fund the largest share of the system through Medicare and Medicaid and Obamacare and the like, it's done little to control the overall costs of the system. How about doing something about prescription drug prices? Why are they so much higher here than other countries?
Safety Net Programs - These probably need to be run more efficiently. We need to stop allocating welfare to the middle and upper classes and start helping poor children and the like more. We need better school systems. Americans from the 50th percentile of income upwards are pretty damn close to the most prosperous people in the world, when you kick out petrostates like Kuwait and tiny places like Monaco. Switzerland is in the same ballpark, but like the USA Switzerland has small government and, overall, low taxes. Anyway getting back on point I see the point in safety net programs. And believe they're most efficient and effective when they're run by state and local governments.
Interest on the national debt - Well, there's not much we can do about that. The politicians have run public debt above 100% of GDP, and we're damn lucky interest rates are low. If they go way up and stay way up we're screwed.
I'll stop there, I'm tired of writing. Our federal government is woefully inefficient. It wastes lots of money.