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Question about where our tax dollars go...


I.Dup.
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I have heard the argument "I don't want my tax dollars going to support XYZ" so many times. I am wondering if anyone knows stats on exactly how much our tax dollars support things like WIC, food stamps, welfare, etc? I am clueless on this.

 

My Dad has the attitude that he gets to live in a free country with roads, a military, etc, and so he isn't going to complain too much about paying taxes. I tend to look at it that way, but I know some get really fired up about where our tax dollars are going (and I understand their POV as well). Just wondering.

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Thanks for the link. My family paid $300 for SNAP (food stamps), $74 for TANF (welfare), and $74 for child nutrition programs (presumably WIC and school breakfast/lunch).

 

I don't believe that that kind of money entitles me to demand humiliating levels of scrutiny into the behavior of benefit recipients. But that's just me.

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Thanks for the link. My family paid $300 for SNAP (food stamps), $74 for TANF (welfare), and $74 for child nutrition programs (presumably WIC and school breakfast/lunch).

 

I don't believe that that kind of money entitles me to demand humiliating levels of scrutiny into the behavior of benefit recipients. But that's just me.

 

I totally agree. How did you find the specifics on food stamps, TANF and WIC? I'm not seeing that...

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It isn't really the programs that are the problem. It is the abusers of the system. I don't mind my tax dollars going to help those who really have a need. I'm not overly fond of the lazy so-and-so who refuses to marry the mother of his children so that she can get a bigger "check" and support him so he can go hang out on the street corner all night. Or the people who think they are owed something. No, it isn't a grand way to live, but these people are contented enough in their culture to not want to change.

 

But the vast majority of people who use services are not that way. And the gov't people do try to stop abuses.

 

And the tax money used for assistance programs is just a drop in the bucket compared to the pork, special interests and other truly wasteful spending that goes on.

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I will admit that where I have a "problem" is when someone gets better than what the majority of average families can afford for their own family. For example, I will have one heck of a time affording braces. I'm not even sure if it is possible to be honest. Yet Medicaid pays for braces. I think everyone should have access to braces if needed. But only the very well off or the very poor get them. That makes no sense to me.

 

This is not about me not wanting to help the poor or pay towards the common good.

 

The part about Medicaid paying for braces is not true. My children are on Medicaid and my daughter's overbite is severe enough that it might have been considered medically necessary had it been less than 1 mm more. But they changed the rules around and it's practically impossible to get braces through Medicaid even when there is a severe deformity.

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Ah ok, I did not know that. It used to be that way.

 

But then that leads me to wonder if braces aren't often over prescribed.

 

I do think that might have been an issue. But I think they are really cracking down on it (unfortunately for dd, lol). One year we had a check up and the dentist seemed almost sure she would be approved. We came back the next year and they said absolutely not (even though her condition hadn't improved).

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It's interesting how people only focus on social programs in these types of discussion. Much more money goes toward war that people may be very strongly against. It's just the way the system works though. There are lots of things each of us could find that we don't agree with paid for with tax money.

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That link is one I should NOT have clicked on. My BP just skyrocketed.

 

It's not my 6308 that went to 'Income Security', that pisses me off... (though I think there can be much done to give people MORE of that $ through trimming down bureaucracy--t the Government is like a non profit where the recipient only sees 40 cents on the dollar that's given...)

 

It's SS, Medicare and National Defense that pisses me off. LIke the NSA building that's going in out in Utah to spy on all of us... while military/ veterans go without basic necessities.

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That link is one I should NOT have clicked on. My BP just skyrocketed.

 

It's not my 6308 that went to 'Income Security', that pisses me off... (though I think there can be much done to give people MORE of that $ through trimming down bureaucracy--t the Government is like a non profit where the recipient only sees 40 cents on the dollar that's given...)

 

It's SS, Medicare and National Defense that pisses me off. LIke the NSA building that's going in out in Utah to spy on all of us... while military/ veterans go without basic necessities.

 

See, I feel the opposite. I have no problem taking care of the elderly and the disabled. They have it coming in my opinion - especially given the fact that most of them paid into the system when they were able-bodied.

 

As for defense, I am sure there are defense decisions I would disagree with, but I don't know how much of a dent those would make. Obviously we need a hefty defense budget because the alternative is to be sitting ducks. Also, most of that money is going toward payrolls anyway, so it's just circulating the resources among people who work.

 

Now as for "income security" - odd name - I am not against it per se, but my contribution ends up being more than I spend on my own family most years. So yeah, that will tend to make me feel a little judgmental. My only "income security" is my ability to save. When I have to dip into my savings account year after year to pay taxes, that's the US government basically telling ME that I can't spend my money the way I want to. If that is OK, then why am I not allowed to complain about people on the dole having more gadgets and perks than I have?

 

My kids' part-time nanny has a much nicer car and phone than I have, and the other day she texted me a photo of my kids playing on her ipad. (I don't own an ipad and have no plans to buy one.) Yet she receives some taxpayer-funded benefits. Do I think she's playing the system? Maybe. Probably. But even if she weren't, the government would still be making sure she has access to things I can't afford as a responsible parent. So yeah, I feel I'm entitled to an opinion.

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See, I feel the opposite. I have no problem taking care of the elderly and the disabled. They have it coming in my opinion - especially given the fact that most of them paid into the system when they were able-bodied.

 

As for defense, I am sure there are defense decisions I would disagree with, but I don't know how much of a dent those would make. Obviously we need a hefty defense budget because the alternative is to be sitting ducks. Also, most of that money is going toward payrolls anyway, so it's just circulating the resources among people who work.

 

Now as for "income security" - odd name - I am not against it per se, but my contribution ends up being more than I spend on my own family most years. So yeah, that will tend to make me feel a little judgmental. My only "income security" is my ability to save. When I have to dip into my savings account year after year to pay taxes, that's the US government basically telling ME that I can't spend my money the way I want to. If that is OK, then why am I not allowed to complain about people on the dole having more gadgets and perks than I have?

 

My kids' part-time nanny has a much nicer car and phone than I have, and the other day she texted me a photo of my kids playing on her ipad. (I don't own an ipad and have no plans to buy one.) Yet she receives some taxpayer-funded benefits. Do I think she's playing the system? Maybe. Probably. But even if she weren't, the government would still be making sure she has access to things I can't afford as a responsible parent. So yeah, I feel I'm entitled to an opinion.

 

 

I have NO problem helping the elderly and disabled. But as it is, I am paying a huge chuck of $ for them, and it won't be there for me.

 

We suffer from broken systems.

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