Where do our tax dollars go?

Ever wonder where your tax dollars go.  I find it strange that we spend more than twice as much money on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan than we do in th entire U.S. Department of Education.  Our interest payments on debt is more than the budget for the departments of Health and Human Services, Education, Veterans Affairs, HUD, and Homeland Security combined.

• $644 billion – Social Security
• $408 billion – Medicare
• $224 billion – Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)
• $360 billion – Unemployment/Welfare/Other mandatory spending
• $260 billion – Interest on National Debt

· Discretionary spending: $1.21 trillion (+4.9%)

• $515.4 billion – United States Department of Defense
• $145.2 billion(2008*) – Global War on Terror
• $70.4 billion – United States Department of Health and Human Services
• $59.2 billion – United States Department of Education
• $44.8 billion – United States Department of Veterans Affairs
• $38.5 billion – United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
• $38.3 billion – State and Other International Programs
• $37.6 billion – United States Department of Homeland Security
• $25.0 billion – United States Department of Energy
• $20.8 billion – United States Department of Agriculture
• $20.3 billion – United States Department of Justice
• $17.6 billion – National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• $12.5 billion – United States Department of the Treasury
• $11.5 billion – United States Department of Transportation
• $10.6 billion – United States Department of the Interior
• $10.5 billion – United States Department of Labor
• $8.4 billion – Social Security Administration
• $7.1 billion – United States Environmental Protection Agency
• $6.9 billion – National Science Foundation
• $6.3 billion – Judicial branch (United States federal courts)
• $4.7 billion – Legislative branch (United States Congress)
• $4.7 billion – United States Army Corps of Engineers
• $0.4 billion – Executive Office of the President
• $0.7 billion – Small Business Administration
• $7.2 billion – Other agencies
• $39.0 billion(2008*) – Other Off-budget Discretionary Spending

*The financial cost of the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan are not part of the defense budget; they are appropriations.