The breakdown is for outlays (as opposed to budget authority) in fiscal year 2005, since this most closely corresponds to your tax filing. Total Federal funds outlays in 2005 were $1,865,494,000,000. We have defined the categories on the bar chart as follows:

·                                Military ($532.2 billion) includes the function area (referring to government categories) national defense, and sub-function area international military assistance.

·                                Health ($377.1 billion) is the Federal funds portion of all health spending by the federal government, including the Federal funds spending on Medicare.

·                                Interest on the Debt ($348.5 billion) refers to the interest payments paid on the national debt. The military share of the interest payment is based on the average historical share of national defense spending. Since interest payments are on the debt which has been accumulated over time, the allocation of shares between military and non-military spending takes this into account.

·                                Income Security ($124 billion) includes Federal funds outlays on the function area income security with the exception of housing assistance, and food and nutrition assistance, which are separately illustrated on the graph. This category includes Supplemental Security Income ($38 billion) which provides cash assistance to disabled, elderly and blind who have very low incomes; payments where Earned Income Tax Credit exceeds tax liability ($34.6 billion); Temporary Assistance for Needy Families ($17.4 billion); payments where child credit exceeds tax liability ($14.6 billion); foster care and adoption assistance ($6.4 billion); child care spending and a variety of other small programs for children and families.

·                                Education ($76 billion) includes all Federal funds outlays on elementary, secondary, and vocational education, higher education, and research and general education aids, subfunctions defined by the government.

·                                Veterans’ Benefits and Services ($69.1 billion) includes the Federal funds portion of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and any other Federal funds spending on the function area veterans’ benefits and services.

·                                Nutrition ($50.7 billion) includes any Federal funds outlays classified as food and nutrition assistance, including the Food Stamp program, all child nutrition programs (such as the National School Lunch Program) and others.

·                                Housing ($37.9 billion) includes all Federal funds outlays defined by the federal government as housing assistance.

·                                Natural Resources and the Environment ($26.6 billion) includes all spending on the government-defined function area natural resources and the environment.

·                                Job Training ($6.3 billion) includes the total for training and employment services as defined by the government.

·                                Other ($217.2 billion) includes everything else not listed above and is comprised of the following function and sub-function areas: international affairs outside of international security assistance (included above in military); general science, space and technology; energy; agriculture; commerce and housing credit; transportation; community and regional development; labor and social services outside of training and employment services; justice; general government; and undistributed offsetting receipts.

Federal spending is more than $2 trillion a year and makes up more than half of total government spending in the United States. The federal government now accounts for 20% of the total US gross domestic product (GDP).  Federal debt is about $8 trillion. 

For an article on the growth of the debt go to http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=40&Itemid=110

Military, health, and interest on the debt consume two-thirds of every income tax dollar.

The median income family in the U.S. paid $4,171 in federal income taxes in 2005. 

Military                              $1,190

Health                                  $843

Interest on military debt               $368

Interest on non-military debt           $411

Income security                         $277

Veteran’s benefits                      $154

Nutrition                               $113

Housing                                  $85

Natural resources                        $59

Job training                             $14

Others                                  $486

A government that served the public wheal would have 4 fundamental changes in expenditures.  The military would be about 1/4^th of present, interest on the debt would be zero, and both education and health would be at least doubled.