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Direct link to the White House's receipt calculator: http://www.whitehouse.gov/taxreceipt http://www.whitehouse.gov/taxreceipt They should really send taxpayer

Direct link to the White House's receipt calculator: http://www.whitehouse.gov/taxreceipt http://www.whitehouse.gov/taxreceipt They should really send taxpayers a copy of this in the mail though. I doubt many of the people who are raging about how we can balance the budget by cutting foreign aid and NPR are going to bother going to a website and rooting around for line items on their W2 and tax return.

dantheman 15y ago
I think your confusing multiple issues - the people wanting to cut foreign aid and NPR have a different vision of what government is for, and when it is ok to use force, e.g. they don't think it's ok for someone to threaten to kill them to pay for NPR. I'm a fan of NPR and I don't think it should be funded by the government- the government pays less than 5% of NPR's budget, but adds tons conflict.
- Ratufa 15y ago
  Yes, there are multiple issues: one of which is whether or not the government should be paying for NPR and foreign aid at all. But, what I think the original poster was responding to, and what the main purpose of the "receipt" is, is that most (or at at least very many) people don't know how government spending is apportioned.
  - dantheman 15y ago
    I'll agree with that, people don't realize how much stuff costs. Like NASA (17.6 Billion[1]) vs Department of Education (71 Billion[2]) [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Education http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Edu...
  - anonymoushn 15y ago
    Right, but the receipt does very little to fix this. Two of the largest categories of spending are completely obfuscated by it.
- lutorm 15y ago
  I wasn't aware anyone had their life threatened because they didn't pay for NPR.
  - OstiaAntica 15y ago
    Try not paying the portion of your taxes represented by NPR. You'll soon enough have your door kicked down, your property seized, and you'll find your way to prison. EVERYTHING the state does is explicitly backed by the government's monopoly on violence.

dantheman 15y ago

I think your confusing multiple issues - the people wanting to cut foreign aid and NPR have a different vision of what government is for, and when it is ok to use force, e.g. they don't think it's ok for someone to threaten to kill them to pay for NPR. I'm a fan of NPR and I don't think it should be funded by the government- the government pays less than 5% of NPR's budget, but adds tons conflict.

Ratufa 15y ago
Yes, there are multiple issues: one of which is whether or not the government should be paying for NPR and foreign aid at all. But, what I think the original poster was responding to, and what the main purpose of the "receipt" is, is that most (or at at least very many) people don't know how government spending is apportioned.
- dantheman 15y ago
  I'll agree with that, people don't realize how much stuff costs. Like NASA (17.6 Billion[1]) vs Department of Education (71 Billion[2]) [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Education http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Edu...
- anonymoushn 15y ago
  Right, but the receipt does very little to fix this. Two of the largest categories of spending are completely obfuscated by it.
lutorm 15y ago
I wasn't aware anyone had their life threatened because they didn't pay for NPR.
- OstiaAntica 15y ago
  Try not paying the portion of your taxes represented by NPR. You'll soon enough have your door kicked down, your property seized, and you'll find your way to prison. EVERYTHING the state does is explicitly backed by the government's monopoly on violence.