Where Does It Go?

   Everyone hates taxes. We all have to pay them, but I can’t think of anyone who likes to. But now that the president has been re-elected, I think it’s important to think about where our hard earned dollars are being spent.

   Depending on whom you voted for, there may be some frustration when contemplating where tax dollars are spent. On the other hand, if things this November went your way, then your tax dollars are doing what you asked for- kind of.

   I’d like to go over just a couple of the things that our taxes go towards (federally). There are many more than are included in my list.

-Health Care

-Defense

-Social Security

-Government Salaries

   There are far too many to list, and “Government Salaries” are much smaller than the three preceding it, but I’d like to talk about it a little. I believe that a lot of things that the government funds are worth while (Defense, education, etc.), but there are also a lot of things about the spending that I don’t like. For example, paying congressmen.

   In the United States, we pay our congressmen somewhere around $174,000 dollars per year! Now you might say, “But they have an important job,” and I would agree. But that’s a lot of money. If the average household income in the U.S. is about fifty thousand dollars per year, then a representative in congress is making well over three times that of an average family. There’s no way they’re working THAT hard.

   There are 435 congressmen in our system. Multiply that by their average annual salaries and you get $75,690,000. With such high salaries, no wonder we have so many career politicians. In my opinion (who cares right?), the position of U.S. congressman should be a burden. People should go in because they’ve got some good ideas and want to do things for their fellow Americans. Once they’ve done what they can, they move on and so something else with their lives.

   I don’t understand why our politicians make so much more money than, say, teachers. Are they really providing a service that does more good? I think not. I vote we cut congress’ salary down to $20,000 dollars so that they can’t wait for those two years to end and they can get a real job again. Maybe then people with good ideas would push to get things done.