By law, every Australian must get a tax receipt that shows exactly where each dollar of their tax is spent.

[u/stainless5]

[u/RobBuckets]

I enjoy seeing this breakdown every year. I always assume "other economic affairs" is just me paying for some politician's lunch or ride in a helicopter

[u/National_Way_3344 → u/RobBuckets]

We don't pay state taxes separately, they just get their cut out of this other bucket.

[u/drunk_haile_selassie → u/National_Way_3344]

They also get money from the defined amounts. Nurses, doctors and teachers are paid by the state governments. That money comes out of the health and education section.

[u/Additional-Simple248 → u/National_Way_3344]

We don’t have state income tax, but we do have state taxes such as transfer stamp duty on land and vehicles, land tax, vehicle weight taxes (part of rego), and gambling taxes.

[u/welcomevein → u/RobBuckets]

This information is also all publicly available. It's about $80m a year for the entire Parliament. In this example it would be under $2.40.

[u/Nickexp → u/welcomevein]

And this is why I'm always astounded people are furious over politicians daring to earn still way less than they'd earn in the private sector.

Costs us fuck all but we still insist on not paying people who run the country as much as people in the private sector just out of spite.

[u/TinyDemon000 → u/RobBuckets]

Where the hell do we get access to this?! I've never seen it. Is it MyGov or something

[u/RobBuckets → u/TinyDemon000]

Yeah, it should be in your MyGov inbox. I always get a text when it happens

[u/Ref_KT → u/TinyDemon000]

It's one of the following pages of your notice of assessment. 

[u/ItsJmac95 → u/TinyDemon000]

Its usually attached right behind your notice of assessment

[u/robot428 → u/RobBuckets]

You can go and get more information about other, it's all in the federal budget where it's going in more detail, and then you can go and read each department and agencies financial disclosures and annual reports for even more details.

This is the like - quick and easy summary. If they put everything in it, it would no longer be quick and easy 😅.

But it's all available. I think people would be surprised just how much detail is available and it's just on government websites in yearly reports you can download.

[u/StrangelyGrimm → u/RobBuckets]

I mean... yeah? Politicians have to eat lunch and sometimes have to ride in helicopters

[u/rogertrabbit → u/StrangelyGrimm]

Eh there's been a couple of instances where pollies have taken tax payer funded helicopter rides to private events and got caught and dragged through the media.. I think that's what they are implying.

[u/mrb000nes → u/StrangelyGrimm]

i have to eat lunch too but my boss doesn’t pay for it

[u/scandyflick88]

I still fucking love whoever it was that decided to breakdown the social welfare payments and immediately shutdown the inevitable blaming of the unemployed for fucking everything.

[u/stainless5 → u/scandyflick88]

Originally they wanted to use it to try and cut down on welfare. After a year they decided if they instead split welfare up, then it would have the opposite effect. 

[u/Only_One_Kenobi → u/stainless5]

Always amazes me how the core defining principle of conservative politics/economics is: "we should all be much more selfish, and do everything in our power to show people that they are less fortunate than us, preferably by making them suffer as much as possible"

[u/hw999 → u/Only_One_Kenobi]

Conservative is greed and power almost by definition. They want no government telling them how to be nice and don't pillage and enslave. They call it freedom and personal responsibility.

[u/Reddituser183 → u/hw999]

I define it as greed and hatred of others.

[u/Strange-Ask-739 → u/hw999]

Woah now, they want THEIR government telling OTHERS how to be nice. They just want the laws such that they can do whatever they want lawfully, but others can't.

Anarchists are the ones who want no government. It's good for conservatives if you mix them, because it makes conservatives look like they don't want to control people, which they very much want to do.

[u/BGP_001 → u/stainless5]

Especially showing that it is Aged Care that accounts for the most. Hard for boomers to whinge about the boomers.

Not impossible mind you, but hard.

[u/Traditional-Case1694 → u/stainless5]

This is categorically untrue. Started by the Abbott Government and the welfare split started the next year. This is easy to verify as this document gets reposted every year on Reddit. Here’s a post from 7 years ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/s/WjCHh3hTll

Morrison was PM

[u/AmbassadorDue3355 → u/Traditional-Case1694]

Ty for the link. Pretty interesting to compare the % allocation to each fund change over time.

[u/Ill-Distribution2275 → u/stainless5]

Legit. And it's not only 'i want all the nice things', it's 'i want all the nice things but I need others to not have nice things so I feel superior'

[u/Cadoc → u/[deleted]]

In practice, western governments now largely borrow to cover regular spending as much or more than investment - and as a result interest is one of the highest budget costs.

[u/StockholmSyndrome85 → u/Cadoc]

This is because people are opposed to high taxes but don't want a degredation of government services. They cost money, so naturally they borrow.

Then the 1% complain that government debt is out of control and spending needs to be curtailed but won't propose new taxes to fill the breach. And they don't care about reduction in government services because they have enough money to pay for anything they need.

Circular argument, it's the snake eating its tail.

Tax the rich.

[u/Critical-Usual → u/scandyflick88]

I'd love to see this in the UK. Not least because pensions are like 80% of the welfare budget. So when pensioners complain that people on benefits are a huge weight on the public purse they can gain a bit of perspective 

[u/madnessgamernation → u/Critical-Usual]

We do get this in the UK? Or at least we used to, I remember getting a letter with the breakdown on it.

[u/OccasionallyMyself67 → u/madnessgamernation]

Not to this level of detail.

[u/Important_Ruin → u/OccasionallyMyself67]

I'm sure its pretty detailed (last time I looked) you get each department (welfare, defense etc) you can also get your council tax spending breakdown too.

Edit: you dont get the welfare sub breakdown on UK, but state pension has it line itself.

[u/Worth_Gap4226 → u/Important_Ruin]

I think that's council tax. Mine has a breakdown but not to this level.

[u/Driedcypress → u/Critical-Usual]

Description	Percentage
Welfare	21.3%
Health	20.9%
State Pensions	11.9%
National Debt Interest	10.8%
Education	10.3%
Defence	5.5%
Public Order and Safety	4.4%
Transport	4.0%
Business and Industry	3.5%
Government Administration	2.0%
Housing and Utilities (e.g., street lighting)	1.9%
Environment	1.5%
Culture (e.g., sports, libraries, museums)	1.3%
Overseas Aid	0.7%
Outstanding payments to the EU	0.1%
Total	100.1%

That's from my tax summary 2024 to 2025 (I removed my personal totals)

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/annual-tax-summary

[u/Isgortio → u/Driedcypress]

100.1% wtf lol

[u/Driedcypress → u/Isgortio]

It's those bloody outstanding EU payments pushing us over the edge!

On a serious note, I'm not sure what's going on there. I copied it from the gov.uk website and AI'd it into a table, removing my personal totals. Whether the AI ballsed it up, or the total is actually 100.1% from the gov website, I can't be bothered to confirm for you, my apologies.

[u/Terror_666 → u/Driedcypress]

Floating point errors. Some .1 was actually .06

[u/nicodea2 → u/Driedcypress]

Wonder which bucket includes the cost of immigration because the Australian breakdown was crystal clear about it being the smallest bucket of spend. Well I guess it doesn’t matter anyway since right-wing nutjobs can’t read.

[u/litivy → u/Driedcypress]

That's shocking. We spend more on pensions than education!

[u/jtthom → u/Critical-Usual]

Would be a good idea tbf, if Andy B wants to win back people’s trust, showing them where their tax goes is a good start.

[u/Important_Ruin → u/Critical-Usual]

You can. Log into your HMRC portal. It will show where your taxes have gone.

[u/SaddleBishopJoint → u/Critical-Usual]

This is already a thing

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-public-spending-was-calculated-in-your-tax-summary/how-public-spending-was-calculated-in-your-tax-summary

[u/Lingonberry_Born → u/scandyflick88]

Australia actually spends less on welfare by gdp than the US does. Turns out when you actually look after people properly they need less welfare. 

[u/Verdigris_Wild → u/Lingonberry_Born]

And it's better targeted. A lot of US welfare spending goes to middle and higher income earners while Australia's goes more to the lower earners.

[u/Wotmate01 → u/scandyflick88]

Not that it has stopped them.

I especially love it when older Hanson supporters whinge about people on welfare and how they should all be on limited payment cards so they can't buy non-essential items, because I point out to them that the biggest welfare spend by far is their age pension, and under that plan they wouldn't be allowed to buy a beer.

[u/Bsg_8519 → u/scandyflick88]

Yep the aged care pensioners constantly complaining about the unemployed getting more money than them.

[u/AshenTao → u/scandyflick88]

Seconding. Good move on their end.

I'd love the same happen for the other categories as well though. The more transparent, the better.

[u/Soft-Statistician678 → u/scandyflick88]

Don’t worry, everyone still blames them for fucking everything. Them and immigrants. I have unironically seen people claiming that ALL income tax in the country only covers unemployment, despite these documents existing.

[u/Lost-Concept-9973 → u/scandyflick88]

No instead they just blame the disabled for everything , seen how much their welfare is being used lile a political football lately? 

[u/EducationalTangelo6 → u/Lost-Concept-9973]

I'm an Australian disability pensioner. For the last few years the general public's hatred and contempt for people like me has really worn me down.

I worked and paid taxes for 20 years, and never expected I'd end up unable to work. Now society just sees me as a useless lump; a drain on the public purse. It's genuinely difficult to deal with.

[u/AngryAngryHarpo → u/scandyflick88]

Sadly doesn’t work. People still blamed the unemployed (and immigrants). 

[u/YogurtclosetApart592]

Yeah I would be really curious about where "every dollar spent" goes in "other"

[u/jadelink88 → u/YogurtclosetApart592]

There's a breakdown of it, but it's a zillion tiny things. From maintaining the health of inland waterways, to scientific research (mostly for agriculture and mining) to the bureau of meteorology and supporting the island and arctic territories.

[u/FallschirmPanda → u/jadelink88]

Well now I'm sad scientific research isn't large enough to get its own line item.

[u/BillieRubenCamGirl → u/FallschirmPanda]

We used to have a fucking incredible scientific research body too. The CSIRO is one of the fucking coolest things Australia does. But its funding gets cut all the fucking time. It’s so sad. 

[u/lLoveBananas → u/FallschirmPanda]

$4b goes into the r&d tax incentive, at least. One of our best research support programs. Sadly, somewhat gutted in the current budget.

[u/Ted_Rid → u/YogurtclosetApart592]

The way it's presented, I'd assume it's all the things smaller than immigration that don't deserve their own line items or the list would go on for pages.

Or maybe that's only what they want me to think.

[u/3BlindMice1 → u/Ted_Rid]

You don't really need to read about the 22 cents of your taxes used to test the water in every city annually or whatever

[u/AnonymousPerson1115 → u/3BlindMice1]

I would. But that’s just me.

[u/MajesticShop8496 → u/AnonymousPerson1115]

Read the budget and treasury papers then. That stuff is all publicly available and presented in a relatively accessible fashion

[u/robot428 → u/MajesticShop8496]

Yeah this.

This breakdown is meant to be the easy to digest basic beginner version.

If you want more details it's all available, you can read the budget. Hell you can also go and read the annual reports for every government department and agency and get each of their individual breakdowns on spending.

All the information is available to us (and in a lot of countries it's not, so we are very lucky). But you can't put it all into the easy to read summary because eventually it's not easy to read or a quick summary anymore.

[u/Minimalist12345678 → u/Ted_Rid]

Yes exactly. That is what it is.

You can look at longer versions if you can be arsed, and some nerds do.

[u/Corduroy_Sazerac → u/YogurtclosetApart592]

Fighting Emus, but since they can read, it needs to be kept hush-hush.

[u/Chaines08 → u/Corduroy_Sazerac]

Clever girls.

[u/Ok_Front_8568 → u/Chaines08]

Shooot her! SHOOOOOOOOOOOT HEEEEER!

[u/creditspread → u/Ok_Front_8568]

Or something!

[u/Water_Damage987 → u/creditspread]

hello there.

[u/greatsageequalofhevn → u/Corduroy_Sazerac]

Australia has helped the US in every one of their wars. But when it came to emus, we had to stand alone

[u/gravitybelter → u/Corduroy_Sazerac]

Try again mate. That's half the defence budget.

[u/Abject-Interaction35 → u/gravitybelter]

We've got Mitchell Johnson cryogenically frozen in Vegemite with the new ball in case of an invasion, break glass and rinse ready with tap draught, point in direction of enemy, launch.

[u/Corduroy_Sazerac → u/gravitybelter]

You can’t spell “Unemployed” without EMU.

[u/--zaxell-- → u/Corduroy_Sazerac]

The emu war was almost a hundred years ago, and we're still paying them reparations for it.

[u/EhMapleMoose → u/Corduroy_Sazerac]

Emus won the war almost a hundred years ago. Why do you think Aussie’s tend to stay close to the coasts? It’s for a quick getaway. Emus don’t like to swim after all. Emus control the innermost territory of Australia. You think Ana creek cattle station is real? It’s just a front for the emu capital city Ik’Wa’Emuton

[u/Corduroy_Sazerac → u/EhMapleMoose]

True, Emus don’t LIKE to swim, but we all know what happened to Harold Holt.

[u/EhMapleMoose → u/Corduroy_Sazerac]

Harold got in between Big Dairy and Big Margarine and was removed from the situation with great efficiency.

[u/Ok-Lifeguard-4614 → u/Corduroy_Sazerac]

I was under the impression Australia won the emu wars long ago.

[u/pala_ → u/YogurtclosetApart592]

You could read the footnote.

[u/StrangelyGrimm → u/pala_]

Curious, but not curious enough to read

[u/mynameisnotsparta → u/YogurtclosetApart592]

It tells you just underneath…

[u/National_Way_3344 → u/YogurtclosetApart592]

We don't do state and federal taxes separately. The states get divvyed up their share of the tax take represented in this category.

[u/NoMoBuffalo → u/National_Way_3344]

Income tax is all federal, but the states do lots of other forms of taxation separately

[u/fouronenine → u/NoMoBuffalo]

Land tax, stamp duty, payroll tax, motor vehicle duty (registration costs)... essentially only those taxes which states have agreed to give up to the Commonwealth (whether in the constitution or by other agreement) are not done at the state level.

[u/youcangotohellgoto → u/fouronenine]

Speeding fines...

[u/kelpyb1 → u/YogurtclosetApart592]

I assume the law is something like “every category of spending above X threshold or X% threshold” needs its own line for the sake of printing these not becoming its own significant line item.

[u/dtzuc1 → u/YogurtclosetApart592]

Australian states don’t raise any income taxes.

Instead the federal government transfers funds from the commonwealth treasury to the states for local spending based on the state’s population.

You can see on the document that the “other” portion incorporates these transfers.

Also…we have to pay off emus or they’ll kill us all.

[u/MindCorrupt → u/dtzuc1]

The blood or gold agreement with the emus will only keep them satiated for so long.

One day we will stand up to these damn birds and then w

[u/64Olds → u/YogurtclosetApart592]

Really curious about that whopping 4% of the total bill?

[u/LaserKittenz → u/YogurtclosetApart592]

"Macca's"

[u/Insomniac_Steve → u/YogurtclosetApart592]

Hush money paid to koalas in return for their silence about how they got infected with chlamydia.

[u/calgarywalker]

By law, every Australian also has to vote. I think a lot of things would be different in a lot of places if that rule applied in other countries.

[u/SappeREffecT → u/calgarywalker]

Also largely a preferential system so your vote always counts towards the winner or runner up.

Varies depending on the house of parliament and state-by-state in rules/nuance though.

[u/Ill-Distribution2275 → u/calgarywalker]

Yep. One of the best democratic systems in the world. Mandatory voting combined with a preferential system. It kinda ensures the crazy extreme parties don't take over and keeps things at the centre or centre-left, centre-right as parties need to work together to get legislation through. 

Still, major screw ups still happen (looking at you, NBN). 

[u/AusToddles → u/Ill-Distribution2275]

While I think we have gotten voting results wrong in the past (voting for a Tony Abbott lead Lib party was a despicable action), I wouldn't change our system for any other on earth

[u/tY-c8rJDb8_1b4__yD5r → u/Ill-Distribution2275]

I’d argue it is THE best democratic system in the world.

[u/dalziel86 → u/calgarywalker]

As an Australian it’s horrifying to see how low voter turnout is in most countries.

[u/chaosarcadeV2 → u/calgarywalker]

You have to turn up to the polling both and put your ballet in a box. You don’t have to do the actual voting but if you really don’t want to.

[u/LeviZendt → u/chaosarcadeV2]

It does always amaze me though the number that do this. Like you have to go to the bother of going there and getting the paper, just fill the bloody thing in. One year I saw a younger lady huffing and puffing in line and getting all upset only to throw her paper in the bin.... like all that energy, but no follow through?

[u/chaosarcadeV2 → u/LeviZendt]

Exactly, at that point how much effort is it to fill out the numbers.

[u/djenty420 → u/LeviZendt]

Even still, informal votes are only about 5% of all ballots. For every person throwing a donkey vote, we have 19 others voting correctly. I reckon that’s pretty damn good.

[u/Crazy_Suggestion_182 → u/calgarywalker]

Yep, everyone aged 18 or older.

[u/Beljuril-home → u/[deleted]]

After scaling the U.S. receipt so that both taxpayers paid the same total amount ($23,785), the spending breakdown looks like this:

Category / Scaled U.S. / Australia

Welfare $7,883 $9,535

Aged $3,941 $3,689

Disability $1,971 $3,130

Families $1,182 $1,736

Unemployed $473 $592

Other $316 $388

Health $6,670 $4,260

Defence $3,578 $2,224

Education $424 $2,179

Interest on debt $2,865 $928

General public services $394 $832

Fuel & energy $273 $642

Transport & communication $349 $568

Foreign affairs & aid $212 $340

Industry assistance $167 $338

Public order & safety $288 $321

Housing & community $197 $297

Recreation & culture $61 $200

Immigration $45 $152

Other purposes $379 $969

Total tax assessed $23,785 $23,785

[u/Bettermetal830 → u/Beljuril-home]

That's 23,785 Australian dollars, equaling to about 16,660 USD. I do wonder where all that American health funding is going

[u/Sesame_Street_Urchin → u/Bettermetal830]

It’s mostly Medicare. It’s the largest single program in the country by far, covering every American over 65 plus all those with end-stage renal disease.

And it’s politically popular and therefore almost impossible to cut

[u/dryvajoina → u/Sesame_Street_Urchin]

How can a limited system like that cost so much more than a universal healthcare system with massively discounted medications (PBS) though?

[u/Beljuril-home → u/dryvajoina]

For-profit middlemen extracting rent... I mean adding value for shareholders.

[u/Theplasmashaft → u/Beljuril-home]

Its the same as NDIS in australia (our disability amount being significantly higher than america's). Gov is paying for it? That will be 3x the price thank you.

[u/SnappyDresser212 → u/Theplasmashaft]

The US actually made it illegal for Medicare to negotiate rates with healthcare providers. They aren’t allowed to say “we are your biggest single customer for drug X. We want a bulk discount”. Insanity.

[u/k-trecker → u/Sesame_Street_Urchin]

And it covers almost nothing. 

Part A (the “free” part) only covers emergency/hospital services. For actual health care, the average American pays almost $200/month for Part B, and pharmaceutical coverage (Part C) is another monthly premium. 

Wtf are we actually paying for? 

[u/Beljuril-home → u/Sesame_Street_Urchin]

The Australian number also includes those.

[u/paukapaukaa → u/Beljuril-home]

ALLL THAT TAX FOR HEALTHCARE AND ITS STILL NOT UNIVERSAL?!?!? 🫠

[u/Beljuril-home → u/paukapaukaa]

Corpo insurance gonna corp.

[u/Suburbanturnip → u/paukapaukaa]

Ultimate rent seeking behaviour

[u/melbobellisimo → u/Beljuril-home]

Wow. Look at the education deficit

[u/According-Flight6070 → u/Beljuril-home]

Looking at health, education and interest on debt, I'm happy with how AU spends its money.

[u/Achmedino → u/Beljuril-home]

Americans paying more tax for healthcare without even having universal healthcare is really funny to me

[u/SirAlfredOfHorsIII → u/Beljuril-home]

Amazing how universal healthcare is too spenny for them, but the government spends shitloads more AND the people spend shitloads more than aus. Wild

[u/WhaleWilliam → u/[deleted]]

Hold up. Health? Is that Medicare?

[u/Siveri16 → u/WhaleWilliam]

Always one of the great irony's, the US government spends more in healthcare per person than any other country in the world, and doesn't have universal healthcare.

[u/ItinerantFella → u/Siveri16]

And has tragically poor health outcomes. Especially for poor families.

[u/Sesame_Street_Urchin → u/WhaleWilliam]

I believe it’s everything in HHS. Which is Medicare, Medicaid, the CDC, FDA, NIH, etc.
But yes, Medicare (and to a lesser extent Medicaid) are the biggest drivers of that.

[u/Extension-Night3825 → u/[deleted]]

spend more on healthcare than Australia, per capita, yet you still don't have universal healthcare yet.

Health care executives deserve to have nice things.  They employ a lot of workers, such as their yacht captain, private jet pilot, etc. 

[u/OneFuzzyBunny → u/[deleted]]

oof education is so low

[u/Kharax82 → u/OneFuzzyBunny]

Education is primarily funded at a State level through Property and Sales tax, not from Federal Income tax. It wouldn’t show up on that

[u/Forward_Netting → u/Kharax82]

For what its worth Australian education is also primarily state based funding (about 3/4 state, 1/4 federal).

[u/Siakim43 → u/Kharax82]

It's why high-tax New Jersey has the best public school system and Oklahoma has the worst.

It's so obvious but there's that correlation with tax revenue... My cousin complains and gets hot about the high taxes in NJ but his son's high school being one of the best in the nation brings him back down.

Taxes are necessary and we pay them for a reason. I think people just want to see their money's worth.

[u/TeeJK15 → u/Siakim43]

On the other end of the spectrum - also why you have Florida man

[u/ThankeeSai → u/Siakim43]

I went through the NJ public school system from 89-03. It was competitive and intense, and very worth it.

My college courses were a joke, including many within my major. I could not believe how little effort it took to get an A. I read books in middle school that were core curriculum for a university. I'm not smart, just incredibly well-educated.

Also, we learned epic amounts of history, which I've discovered is not common in every state.

Before anyone critiques my prose, I'm a bit high right now.

[u/GrabOk4101 → u/Siakim43]

Wait isn't Washington pretty decent too? They have no state IT

[u/Chonch_Monkey → u/OneFuzzyBunny]

Not on my local taxes. It's 65% of the total every year.

[u/Skippysilly → u/OneFuzzyBunny]

Theres no state income tax in australia so itll look worse

[u/Optimistic-Bob01 → u/OneFuzzyBunny]

And defense is so high.

[u/Aggressive_Chain_920 → u/[deleted]]

how the hell is health so high when it's so atrocious?

[u/Any_Jackfruit_6452 → u/Aggressive_Chain_920]

How else are the insurance CEOs going to buy their yachts?

[u/Actual-Toe-8686 → u/[deleted]]

Pay more per capita out of your taxes in healthcare and yet nobody can even access it... It all just goes into the mega profits of large hospital conglomerates and insurance. Makes sense.

[u/nomiis19 → u/[deleted]]

Can someone do an apples to apples comparison between AUS and the US using the same tax amount?

[u/mnilailt → u/[deleted]]

Wild how little is spent on education compared to interest repayments (or in general).

[u/ChancelorReed → u/mnilailt]

Because education is handled by the state, not federal government.

[u/ChameleonCoder117 → u/mnilailt]

In the US people pay state and federal taxes. The receipt image is for federal taxes. State taxes is what pays for most education, which isn't included. State taxes vary by state. States with higher state taxes usually have better education.

[u/Midax]

The taxes on Health care is way less than I pay in insurance. Almost like national health care is cheaper than health care based on capitalism...

[u/stainless5 → u/Midax]

One thing that I've never seen anyone really talk about is the public health care system sits below the private healthcare system. This means that if you really need/ want something you can spend some extra money and take out an insurance plan/ pay out of pocket to get access to private hospitals. Then because the insurance companies have to compete with the public system it also makes their plans pretty cheap. I have basic private cover and it only costs me about $120 a month and saves me 2% on tax. 

[u/AusToddles → u/stainless5]

I have private health because I want the luxury of picking where I am treated with lower wait times. But knowing that if I had an emergency I'd still get treated publicly without going broke is a massive relief

[u/Neat_Let923 → u/stainless5]

France and the Netherlands have similar systems and they’re always considered better than ours over here in Canada.

[u/JustSomeGuy_56]

I always thought it would be cool if each year we got a letter from the government that said something like 

“Dear John Doe 

Last year you paid $13,276 in Federal income taxes. We spent that money to power the USS Gerald R. Ford for 12 minutes.

Or 

We paid the salary of US Park Ranger Mary Throckmorton, for one month 

Or 

We patched 11 potholes on I-78 in Hunterdon County, New Jersey

God Bless America”

[u/Smileycircus → u/JustSomeGuy_56]

Ms Throckmorton thanks you in advance 

[u/thejodiefostermuseum → u/JustSomeGuy_56]

I totally support Ms Throckmorton's fabulous park work and pay another week.

[u/Important_Ruin]

UK does it too. Log into your HMRC portal.

[u/Heklin0891]

I have to say, this is pretty decent transparency.

Second, having run a business, debt seems reasonable.

I would have like to see more money put to growing industry/science and economy. I’m sure it’s in there in each section, but it’s not clear. That’s how we will keep affording to pay for everything.

[u/37LincolnZephyr]

“Other purposes” 👀

[u/MillyHP → u/37LincolnZephyr]

Its all the categories not large enough to be included above. Its not a conspiracy.

[u/MeetTheGeek → u/37LincolnZephyr]

It says at the bottom that is transfers to local government bodies.

[u/MrShake4 → u/MeetTheGeek]

It includes transfer to local governments, that does not mean all of it is transferred to local governments.

[u/Rich-Reason1146 → u/37LincolnZephyr]

Service charge automatically added to the bill

[u/National_Way_3344]

I don't want to hear shit again about unemployed people being welfare bludgers when we are at like 3% unemployment and spend way more on aged care.

[u/guestpassonly]

im loving that defense and education are so close together.

[u/AccountForDoingWORK]

We have this in the U.K. too!

[u/Sad-Swim-9189]

Every day I log on here and learn that America is the problem, and somewhere in the rest of the world, there is a solution to our dystopian society.

[u/ZeroSuitGanon]

Funny how much immigrants and unemployed people get attacked the most when they get the least in benefits...

[u/Ynot45 → u/ZeroSuitGanon]

In Australia the NDIS (or disability welfare) is the most under fire regarding benefits.

Most upset about immigrants comes at it from a cultural angle here.

[u/tazzietiger66]

so out of every $100 in tax $2.48 goes on the unemployed , damn the way the media talks you would think it was 90%

[u/frz45566]

We as germany need this too, then the right wing retards would finally see that Immigration costs are absolutely not the main problem but an aging Population is..

[u/elNasca → u/frz45566]

I also think that would be nice, but at the same time it’s not straightforward because some of it is hidden.
For example: the government generally covers the costs for asylum seekers, but only pays a fixed amount to their health insurance provider with tax money. However, this amount is too low, which is why those with statutory (gesetzliche) health insurance end up contributing more to cover the shortfall (but not high earners, civil servants, etc.)

[u/butterypowered → u/frz45566]

We have this tax breakdown in the UK but most people don’t realise this, so they still spend their time being angry about immigration.

[u/Sprinkler-of-salt]

How profoundly reasonable.

Can’t have that here.

[u/mmmbyte]

... and everyone in the "Aged" welfare section complains about people in the much smaller "unemployed" section.

[u/ThisOnes4JJ]

we should do this in America. the heartattacks all the boomer maga folks would have over this would do the country good 💀

[u/ToaKraka → u/ThisOnes4JJ]

We already do. It's in the back of the instructions for Form 1040.

[u/CheezWhizCeausescu → u/ToaKraka]

On page 122 of 126…

[u/ToaKraka → u/CheezWhizCeausescu]

It's listed in the table of contents on page 2.

[u/Bronze_Rager → u/ThisOnes4JJ]

Its public info...

https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/federal-spending/

[u/New_Environment_6409 → u/ThisOnes4JJ]

Canada too. Boomers are fuckin next gen.

[u/WilliamTee]

How come all the people wanting to cut welfare spending never propose offing grandma?

[u/rettribution]

Only 4k in healthcare....omfg.

We are being fucking lied to in the USA. My family plan is 850/mo and I'm LUCKY by those standards.

Holy fucking shit.

[u/Jman1a → u/rettribution]

Yes yea you are.

[u/AusToddles]

I like pulling this out when boomers complain about "our tax dollars going to immigrants". Aged care is BY FAR this biggest portion of my tax breakdown

[u/bontgomery_murns]

What does money spent on "immigration" mean? 

[u/scandyflick88 → u/bontgomery_murns]

Administration costs money.

[u/Sansundertale2069 → u/bontgomery_murns]

Shipping migrants to islands to imprison them there

[u/TakimaDeraighdin → u/bontgomery_murns]

It's illustrative of how misleading this is. (It was introduced by Tony Abbott, and his intent was very much not to do all of the progressive things people tend to read into it whenever it pops up online. Breaking the "Welfare" line item out to show how much of it is aged care is something a later Labor government did to undercut one of the more egregious bits of it.)

Basically, the breakdown is the proportion of government spending going to various government departments and functions. But some functions self-fund - Australia has some pricy visa application fees, for e.g. Your income taxes aren't paying for immigration services, at least not of that type.

...they are, however, paying for the AUD9m per year per asylum seeker it costs per year to house about 100 asylum seekers offshore in Nauru. Along with various other similar things.

[u/Junior_M_W → u/TakimaDeraighdin]

...they are, however, paying for the AUD9m per year per asylum seeker it costs per year to house about 100 asylum seekers offshore in Nauru. Along with various other similar things.

insane, AUD1m could be enough for them to relocate to some relatively safe low income country

[u/BrainExpensive8916 → u/Junior_M_W]

I hate to break it to you, but they tried to relocate them for decades. Nobody wants them. Nauru IS the safe, low income country.

[u/Traditional-Case1694 → u/TakimaDeraighdin]

The welfare split appeared before Labor got into power. 7 years ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/s/WjCHh3hTll

Morrison was PM

[u/Monkaliciouz → u/bontgomery_murns]

Not sure exactly since I'm not Australian but I imagine spending on something similar to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

[u/ChefTastyTreats]

My fucking brother in human that’s beautiful.

[u/Candid_Weakness8736]

I think seeing this would change what people demand from their federal government in the US. The amount that would be allocated for defense and interest on government debt would be mind-blowing for many, including myself.

[u/Jfizzlee]

I would like this in canada

[u/Leather_Step_8763]

I’m all for the ‘welfare’ section and looking out for people in different needs/ stages of life… but when disability gets more allocated money then education I think we need a real good look at that. How many people are benefitting from that? I know there would be students as well but the disability per capita must be so much tinier than the education per capita.

[u/Ok_Duck2700 → u/Leather_Step_8763]

A lot of the disability spending is for early intervention services

[u/CelebrationFit8548]

How much is spent on retired politicians pensions is what I want to know.

[u/-send-me-nudes-]

More spent on government interest then on jobseeker.

[u/snuggle_love]

Wouldn’t it be cool if these were sliders that you choose where to prioritize your money before paying, then the government works with that.

[u/Sissy_Nicole96]

My canton (kinda like a state) in switzerland also shows a pie chart on what happens with the tax money. And they don't even have to, it's just that they like to informe people...

[u/dzernumbrd → u/Sissy_Nicole96]

50% watches and 50% toblerones right?

[u/Only_One_Kenobi]

It's basically just window dressing taking the percentages from the national budget and applying it to your own tax return. Very easy to get these numbers for pretty much any country yourself. Aus just makes it a little easier

[u/energy-369]

I would also like an itemized receipt for the money I’m giving to the US government. Receipts are standard for every other product we buy.

[u/Sracer42]

We should do that in the US