Archives for the Month of February 2007
February 26, 2007
The Growth of the Welfare State
April 15th -- the dreaded tax day -- looms on the horizon. How many of you have filed your taxes yet? Really? That many of you, eh? Well, tell me this. How much did you pay in federal income taxes this year?
No, I'm not asking how much of a refund you received, or how much you had to pay when you filed your taxes. I'm talking about the number that shows up in Box 1 of your W-2. If you're married and your spouse also works, add the figures in Box 1 of all of your W-2s (in the event you hold more than one job) and add in all the figures in Box 1 of your spouse's W-2s. What does that sum turn out to be? $10,000? $20,000? More? Less?
For a more accurate calculation, now do one of the following. Either subtract your income tax refund from that sum or add the amount of income tax you owe to that figure. The total is your income tax bill for 2006. Does the number depress you? Anger you? Make you feel cheated that you're not getting back what you put in?
With all the emotions that probably well up when discussing how much we pay in income taxes, do you ever stop to think how our federal government spends OUR money? Neither did I. In fact, I really hadn't given it much thought, except for the vague concept that the taxes my husband and I pay were being paid out mostly to "lazy, undeserving" people who "should get off their arses and work, damn it." I constantly think to myself, "Why the hell am I paying for these lazy good-for-nothings to sit around at home procreating like friggin' rabbits when I'm out working my fanny off and don't feel that I can even afford children, myself?"
A bit harsh, to be sure. But I'm nothing if not politically incorrect. And you know what? That's OK by me. In fact, as it turns out, I wasn't so far off as my conservative rant might lead you to believe. Take a look at this graph of federal spending in 1956 (ah, the good ol' days) and 2006.
This chart, courtesy of Newsweek.com (never known to be a bastion of conservativism), shows what I consider to be creeping socialism infecting this country. Back in 1956, we spent 60% of our federal budget on defense and only 22% on social security and other entitlement programs such as welfare, Medicare, etc. Fifty years later, those numbers are flipped; we now spend 60% on entitlement programs and 20% on defense. What's wrong with this picture? How about more and more people living off the hard work, sweat and back of John Q. Taxpayer?
I've already spent about 30 minutes typing up this blog post, and my lunch break is almost over. So I'll let you read the entire article over at Newsweek.com. Maybe then, you, too, will be as inclined to run your head through a wall as I am.
Grumble grumble grumble grumble ...