The total federal government budget is made up of both federal funds and trust funds. Trust funds include most of Social Security, Unemployment Compensation, and Railroad Retirement, as well as other smaller trust funds. All other funds are federal funds, and income taxes are allocated to the federal funds part of the budget. The chart found on Page 1 of Where Do Your Tax Dollars Go? is based on the functions and subfunctions (government categories of how the funds are used) within the federal funds portion of each government agency budget found in the Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2011, Analytical Perspectives and Public Budget Database Fiscal Year 2011.
We have defined the categories in the bar chart as follows:
Military: $718,337,000,000. National defense and security, nuclear weapons activities, and international security assistance. This includes subfunctions 051, 053, 054, 152.
Health: $543,287,000,000. Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP and other health-related expenses. This includes subfunctions 551, 552, 554, 571, 921.
Interest on the debt: $368,132,000,000. Military and non-military interest on cumulative debt. This includes subfunctions 901, 902, 908, 909. The proportion of the military debt was computed by (a) assessing national defense spending as a proportion of outlays less net interest for each year from 1940 to 2009 (est), and (b) taking the average proportion over these years and applying it to the interest on the cumulative debt.
Government: $265,450,000,000. Commerce, law enforcement, overhead costs of federal government, and undistributed offsetting receipts. This includes subfunctions 372, 373, 376, 751, 752, 753, 754, 801, 802, 803, 804, 805, 806, 808, 809, 922, 951, 953, 954, 959.
Income Security & Labor: $230,484,000,000. Job training, disability, retirement, and unemployment insurance, social security. This includes subfunctions 504, 505, 601, 602, 603, 609, 651, 923.
Housing & Community: $195,355,000,000. Housing assistance and credit, community development, and services supporting social needs. This includes subfunctions 371, 451, 452, 453, 506, 604, 925.
Food: $100,197,000,000. Agriculture and nutritional assistance. This includes subfunctions 351, 352, 605.
Veterans' Benefits: $94,575,000,000. Health care, housing, and income benefits for veterans. This includes subfunctions 701, 702, 703, 704, 705.
Environment, Energy, & Science: $68,655,000,000. Natural resources and environment, supply and use of energy, and science and research activities. This includes subfunctions 251, 252, 271, 272, 274, 276, 301, 302, 303, 304, 306.
Education: $53,384,000,000. Elementary, secondary, higher and vocational education. This includes subfunctions 501, 502, 503.
International Affairs: $34,548,000,000. Diplomatic, development, and humanitarian activities abroad. This includes subfunctions 151, 153, 154, 155.
Transportation: $34,532,000,000. Development and support of air, water, ground, and other transportation. This includes subfunctions 401, 402, 403, 407.
Page 2 of Where Do Your Tax Dollars Go? is based on the receipts used for federal funds outlays (expenditures), found in the Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2011, Analytical Perspectives and Public Budget Database Fiscal Year 2011.
Receipts for federal fund expenditures for fiscal year 2009 were $1,163,126,000,000.
The “borrowed” amounts of each dollar spent in 1943 and 2000 are derived from the differences between federal funds receipts and outlays found in the Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2011, Historical Table 1.4.
Ratios of individual to corporate contributions to tax receipts is based on data found in Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2011, Historical Table 2.1.
