It’s late Friday afternoon. A young worker sitting at his desk receives his first paycheck. “Oh. Wow,” he exclaims, “My first paycheck!” His eyes move quickly to his take-home pay. “Man, I hate taxes,” he grumbles.

But his feisty paycheck talks back, offering to tell him the story of the federal taxes that take a bite from his take-home pay. He replies that he’d rather have a combo colonoscopy-root canal.

If Paychecks Could Talk is National Priorities Project’s answer to all of us who wonder how the U.S. government spends our tax dollars. Regular people are our nation’s major bill payers. And in a democracy, we have both a right and a responsibility to weigh in on our country's federal budget priorities.

If you’ve ever asked, “What does the federal budget have to do with me?” If Paychecks Could Talk is for you. And if you want more than a four-minute explanation, you’ll want our new book A People’s Guide to the Federal Budget.

National Priorities Project thanks Monte Belmonte and Kelsey Flynn for their great portrayals, as well as the creative team of Lloyd Dangle and Jo Rivers.