
Where My Money Goes: A visual receipt for your taxes. - theli0nheart
http://wheremymoneygoes.com
======
theli0nheart
I made this last night after being inspired by
[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1302494...](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130249425&sc=fb&cc=fp)

All the calculations are done with Javascript. Let me know what you think!

~~~
anigbrowl
Good idea and good instincts. I hope you have a scalable hosting solution,
because the presentation and domain name are so well chosen that I can see you
getting millions of page landings by tomorrow.

For your own benefit, perhaps some thoughtfully-filtered Adwords or so would
help cover those costs and/or make you some ca$h.

For the site itself, keep the simple presentation but perhaps add + signs to
allow people to break things out if they wish. Any large program whose share
of the budget people love to complain about often turns out to include some
things they actually support, so it has excellent education potential.

Discreet links to more advanced presentations like graphs and so forth could
later help to build out that initial traffic to become the 'go-to' site for
accessible stats, mich like fivethirtyeight.com became well-known for unbiased
electoral analysis.

A fun thing might be a time machine that let you look back at tax rates of
years past, with the receipt getting increasingly yellowed and/or using more
and more antique-looking fonts. By the time you get to 1776 everything is in
copperplate :-)

~~~
theli0nheart
> Good idea and good instincts. I hope you have a scalable hosting solution,
> because the presentation and domain name are so well chosen that I can see
> you getting millions of page landings by tomorrow.

Thanks, I had a feeling people would like this, but had no idea that it'd be
this popular. I'm migrating over to Appengine as soon as I can.

> For your own benefit, perhaps some thoughtfully-filtered Adwords or so would
> help cover those costs and/or make you some ca$h.

I put them up about an hour ago, but took them down because I couldn't see
them. Turns out I had adblock turned on. I just pushed ads live.

> Discreet links to more advanced presentations like graphs and so forth could
> later help to build out that initial traffic to become the 'go-to' site for
> accessible stats, mich like fivethirtyeight.com became well-known for
> unbiased electoral analysis.

I think these are all great ideas. I do think a site like this is missing, and
we could all stand to benefit from it.

> A fun thing might be a time machine that let you look back at tax rates of
> years past, with the receipt getting increasingly yellowed and/or using more
> and more antique-looking fonts. By the time you get to 1776 everything is in
> copperplate :-)

Hehe, of all the ideas you've had, this is the best. Moving it up in the queue
:)

~~~
grandalf
Very cool! Great job with it. One idea: What about adding a line in red for
deficit spending... the amount the person owes against the deficit based on
his/her current income level...

------
hugh3
Wow, very nicely designed, and I love how fast it is.

Some clarification on a few of the entries would be nice if you have time. For
instance, what does "Healthcare" mean once Medicare and Medicaid are excluded?
And what's the difference between "compulsory" and "discretionary" spending
(when surely the government could eradicate the compulsory stuff if it wanted
to). Perhaps you could have explanations of each term if you click on 'em?

Also having "miscellaneous" as the third highest number is a little
unsatisfying, can you break that down a bit more?

But these are nitpicks, nice work!

~~~
digitallogic
"There are two types of government spending — discretionary and mandatory.
Discretionary spending, which accounts for roughly one-third of all Federal
spending, includes money for things like the Army, FBI, the Coast Guard, and
highway projects. Congress explicitly determines how much to spend (or not
spend) on these programs on an annual basis. Mandatory spending accounts for
two-thirds of all government spending. This kind of spending is authorized by
permanent laws. It includes "entitlements" like Social Security, Medicare, and
Food Stamps — programs through which individuals receive benefits based on
their age, income, or other criteria. Spending levels in these areas are
dictated by the number of people who sign up for these benefits, rather than
by Congress." -
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_spending#Federal_Spe...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_spending#Federal_Spending)

------
SMrF
Can you put little voting arrows next to the line items so I can vote up NASA
and vote down defense spending? Oh wait, representative democracy. Damn.

~~~
theli0nheart
If only Congress had an API...

    
    
        POST /house-of-representatives/?district=4&action=expel
        POST /house-of-representatives/?district=4&action=elect&candidate=329183

~~~
andrewparker
Here is a usable API that's live for accessing government data:
<http://wiki.sunlightlabs.com/Sunlight_Labs_API>

Doesn't support write quite like that yet ;)

------
jmreid
Found a similar site on Reddit: <http://www.whatwepayfor.com>

Found here:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/dlidt/you_want_a_r...](http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/dlidt/you_want_a_receipt_myself_and_another_redditor/)

------
aardvark
It looks great!

One thing I'd like to see, if possible, is an adjustment to account for
deficit spending. In other words, if the government is spending $175 for every
$100 collected, adjust the expenses accordingly, so we could clearly see what
kind of cuts it would take to balance the budget.

~~~
Semiapies
Maybe as a bill instead of a receipt, complete with running unpaid balance
scaled to tax paid?

------
socratees
Bug: Looks like the text field doesn't handle comma properly. Any character
beyond the first occurrence of a comma gets truncated.

~~~
bprater
Threw me for a minute, too. Suggesting that you regex this field to chop off
anything that isn't a period.

------
karzeem
Ha, these calculators have had a great past 24 hours. I made one today too:
<http://taxes.kareemshaya.com>

You did a very nice job with the receipt vibe.

~~~
theli0nheart
Thanks, yours looks pretty nice too!

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simon_
I don't think this is right... FICA is capped, so my social security
contribution should not scale linearly with income.

~~~
theli0nheart
You're right--the calculation I do is linear, so I will try and make this more
accurate later tonight.

~~~
Semiapies
The contribution is capped, but spending isn't.

------
alain94040
Another suggestion, if you love attention to detail... Rather than having
#XXX-XXX as the receipt number, put the IP address in the format of a receipt,
that would be a nice touch.

------
higher
The federal government actually only has about 58-59 cents of revenue for each
dollar it spends. It would be slightly more accurate (if extremely
inflammatory) to make an applet that generates a receipt for only entitlement
spending, as entitlement spending has come within 2% of revenue recently.

------
coin
The site appears to just linearly scale the results, which is not always
correct. For example, Social Security is only collected on the first $106,800
of income.

~~~
higher
All social security revenue that is not paid out in benefits is replaced with
unmarketable treasury securities and spent as part of the general fund. When
social security ceases to run a nominal surplus, the money to pay for those
securities will come out of the general fund. As you can see, social security
is essentially part of the broader budget, and the divide between its budget
and the broader budget is strictly imaginary.

As such I think it is appropriate to calculate FICA spending exactly as the
author has.

~~~
higher
I see I have been rated down for posting the truth. If you would like to read
about the truth, you can find it here:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_(United_States)>

"Congress invested these surpluses into special series, non-marketable U.S.
Treasury securities held by the Social Security Trust Fund. Under the law, the
government bonds held by Social Security are backed by the full faith and
credit of the U.S. government."

"According to most projections, the Social Security trust fund will begin
drawing on its Treasury Notes toward the end of the next decade (around 2018
or 2019), at which time the repayment of these notes will have to be financed
from the general fund."

~~~
2arrs2ells
No, you've been rated down for a reply that does not actually address the
comment the parent poster made.

Your comment on Social Security accounting (which is correct, as far as I
know), has no bearing on the parent's observation that FICA tax doesn't scale
linearly - because it is capped at a certain point.

~~~
higher
The essential nature of Social Security accounting is such that FICA tax is
unrelated to FICA spending. At the moment, much of your FICA tax is spent on
general fund items. In the future, much of your income tax will be spent on
FICA items.

~~~
2arrs2ells
Thanks for explaining!

------
jacoblyles
I need to remember this for the next time someone tells me my desire for lower
tax rates means I must not desire roads, police, and fire fighters. It's
remarkable how little of the tax burden of a modern state actually goes
towards essential services. A modern country could probably be run with
single-digit taxes. You would be missing things like a space program, science
subsidies, farm subsidies, and socialized retirement insurance, but you could
still pay for the rule of law and basic public goods.

Also, does this include recent large one-time stimulus spending bills, or were
those in the next fiscal year?

~~~
anigbrowl
<http://www.korea-dpr.com/business.htm>

------
dfranke
You should change "total" to "subtotal", and have the full total include how
much extra you'd have to pay in order offset the deficit. Then at the bottom,
"balance outstanding": your share of the public debt.

------
krsgoss
Looks beautiful, especially in such short time. I find the discretionary
defense spending line item especially depressing compared to healthcare.

------
Semiapies
Does the Defense number include expenditures on Iraq and Afghanistan? Those
have been tracked separately from normal Defense spending up to 2009:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_budget#Bu...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_budget#Budgetary_treatment_of_Iraq_.26_Afghanistan_war_expenses)

------
markbnine
It would be nice to compare the break-out to other countries. Perhaps you can
finish this tonight?

~~~
theli0nheart
I can definitely work on it!

------
rossriley
Ok, just a little fun but for reference here's a comparison of US to UK based
on US taxes of $10,000 and UK taxes of about the same (£6,350.50)

The comparison goes roughly like this, obviously the UK figures are less
detailed so I've grouped some of the US expenditure where I think appropriate,
correct me if you see any errors.

=======================================

UK: Pensions £1,459.32 ($2,310.61) + Welfare £705.73 ($1,117.42)

Total= $3,4328.03

US: Social Security: $1908.03 + Housing $133.78

Total = $2,041.81

=======================================

UK: Healthcare £1,453.33 ($2,301.13)

Total = $2,301.13

US: Medicare $1274.89 + Medicaid $816.32 + Healthcare $221.62

Total = $2,312.83

=======================================

UK: Education £364.83 ($577.65)

Total = $577.65

US: Education $131.50

Total = $131.50

=======================================

UK: Defence £532.29 ($842.80)

Total = $1,117.42

US: Defense $1869.09 + Veterans Affairs $147.84

Total = $2,016.93

=======================================

UK: Protection £197.37 ($312.50) - nb. (Includes Police Services, Fire-
Protection Services, Law Courts, Prisons,Public Order and Safety)

Total = $312.50

US: Homeland Security $123.76 + Department of Justice $67.31 + Potential
Disaster Allotment $30.73

Total = $221.80

=======================================

UK: Transport £161.48 ($255.67)

Total = $255.67

US: Transportation $204.17 + Public Engineering $14.33

Total = $218.50

=======================================

UK: General Government £155.50 ($246.21)

Total = $246.21

US: Department of State $145.26 + Department of Energy $74.05 + Department of
Agriculture $73.21 + Treasury $37.45

Total = $329.97

=======================================

UK: Interest Paid £334.92 ($530.29)

Total = $530.29

US: Interest on National Debt

Total = $461.64

=======================================

UK: Other Government Spending £616.02 ($975.37)

Total = $975.37

US: NASA $52.67 + Commerce $38.84 + Labor $37.45 + Natural Parks $33.79 +
Environmental Protection Agency $29.57 + National Science Foundation $19.69 +
National Infrastructure Bank $14.06 + Community Service $3.08 + Small Business
$1.93 + Bureaucracy $1.54 + Everything Else $55.75

Total = $125.62

=======================================

Finally: Miscellaneous mandatory programs $1606.83

Wasn't sure what this included, maybe US readers can shed some light upon how
this might relate to the above sections. Obviously the main mismatch is in the
other government spending so maybe most of that belongs in there.

Anyway not exactly like for like but may be an interesting excercise.

~~~
easyfrag
What a potentially interesting feature: switching countries to see what the
same tax amount (converted to local currency) buys in other countries

------
seanalltogether
This assumes the only cash inflow for federal spending comes from income
taxes. How many sources are funneled in to federal budget in reality?

edit - here you go, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
srv/special/politics/budget...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
srv/special/politics/budget-2010/)

------
xenophanes
wtf are "Miscellaneous mandatory programs" that cost almost as much as social
security?

~~~
cbetz
via the google: <http://useconomy.about.com/od/fiscalpolicy/p/Mandatory.htm>

"These programs include Food Stamps, Unemployment Compensation, Child
Nutrition and Tax Credits, Supplemental Security for the Disabled and Student
Loans."

~~~
theli0nheart
Just added this in the tooltips.

------
nanijoe
I'm not sure where you got the tax rates from, but you almost certainly
computed New Jersey taxes wrong. I'm seeing a rate of around 4%, when in truth
most people who make anything over $35k pay around 7-11%

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DTrejo
You might consider using raphaeljs to do some graphing and visualization, in
addition to the numbers.

graphing: <http://g.raphaeljs.com/>

Make sure to check out the demos.

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DavidSJ
Does this include employer Social Security and Medicare expenses too? If not,
it should, since they come out of your paycheck just as much as employee
taxes.

------
vinhboy
This is nice. Tip: put up all the social media icons.. use sharethis, addthis,
or whatever. People like to fb-like more than tweet.

~~~
theli0nheart
Thanks! Just added Facebook, and am setting up the Share This widget.

------
hardtke
The problem here is that for every dollar the government currently collects,
they spend two. This should be reflected.

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nhebb
I have to pay for Small Business? I'm a small business, and I have to
subsidize other small businesses? Moochers!

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sliverstorm
I would like to see NASA, Education, Natural Parks, and the National Science
Foundation higher on that list.

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nihaar
This is actually pretty good data to tie to a given IP address.

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gamma_raj
Beautiful

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zeynel1
Very nice. Is it a coincidence that; for various numbers I tried; "social
security" and "defense" are always about the same amount?

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astrodust
Someone should throw some CSS3 rotation and drop-shadow on this thing.

