April 18, 2011 12:00 am

Where Do Your Tax Dollars Go?

Ever wonder how the federal government spends what you pay in income taxes? Now you can get a general idea by using a calculator (www.whitehouse.gov/issues/taxes/tax-receipt) from the White House called Your 2010 Federal Taxpayer Receipt. Just plug in what you paid for income taxes, Social Security taxes, and Medicare taxes (or, if you don’t know, choose an income level) and then see a breakdown of how your payments are applied.

Using the calculator, you will see, among other things, that 26.3% of income tax dollars goes to defense, 24.3% to health care, and 0.4% to responses to natural disasters.

Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/taxes/tax-receipt

 

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Tax Glossary

Appreciation in value

Increase in value of property due to market conditions. When you sell appreciated property, you pay tax on the appreciation since the date of purchase. When you donate appreciated property held long term, you may generally deduct the appreciated value.

More terms