Preview

Tax Dollars

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
711 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Tax Dollars
Where Do Income Tax Dollars Go
Opening up an envelope on the first of the month to reveal ones monthly pay is a surprise in itself. After arriving down at the bottom of the pay stub it seems that half of the paycheck goes to the government. Where does the money go? Where do income tax dollars go? On that pay stub there are three places ones tax dollars go to and they are social security, healthcare, and defense spending.
The first line that appears on a pay stub is social security tax. Where does ones money go when it is sent to social security? What is social security? Social Security is a program not based upon the needs of the participants but rather how much and how long the participants pay into the system. Eligibility for benefits upon retirement includes a few factors: age, and length of employment. Established in 1935 the Social Security Act was formulated due to the Great Depression. President Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted the government to assist the elderly during their retirement years. So does a person have to pay social security tax? The answer is yes! The only way that one may opt out of paying social security is to be self employed.
The second line that appears on the monthly pay stub is healthcare tax. Even if a person may not have health insurance the government still requires the tax to be paid. The healthcare tax goes to pay medicare which provides health coverage for people over 65 and low income families, and individuals that cannot afford health coverage. Like the social security tax, medicare tax must be paid by an employer and the only way to opt out is to be self employed.
Finally, the last tax that may appear on the pay stub is the defense spending tax. The defense spending tax pays for salaries for our troops, research, development, testing, and evaluations done by the United States military. In a way these tax dollars are going to the United States military to keep Americans as safe as possible.
So if a person isn’t benefiting



References: MSNBC. (2007). Where do my income tax dollars go?. Retrieved from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18098378/ns/business-answer_desk/ Medicare.gov. (2009). Why do I have to pay Medicare?. Retrieved from https://questions.medicare.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/11/~/do-i-have-to-pay-for-medicare-part-a-(hospital-insurance)%3F Labor Law Talk. (2010). Social Security and why you have to pay it.. Retrieved from http://http://www.laborlawtalk.com/showthread.php?t=96893&page=1

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    This fee is called the “Individual Mandate’s shared responsibility fee”. This is paid from an individual’s Federal Income Tax Return. The mandate can be an advantage for people who need the health care insurance and get sick often or have any chronic illnesses or diseases. But for people who don’t get sick often and don’t need the health care insurance, it would be a big disadvantage. Some see this as unconstitutional because it is forcing Americans to “buy” insurance so their health needs can be covered.…

    • 970 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Legt2751 Notes for Midsem

    • 2002 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Taxes - compulsory, unrequited payments to general government. Collected for the provision of social & merit goods.…

    • 2002 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    the popurse of the IRS

    • 305 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Benefits of paying taxes are taxes go in to government funding programs like schools, emer-gency services (fire, ambulance, police), mail service, road construction, public buildings & parks, museums, welfare if you ever need it, etc. then you have your social security taxes for your retirement when you reach that point in life.…

    • 305 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fiscal Policy Paper Eco372

    • 1420 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Taxpayers are affected by the U.S. deficit when there is a shortfall in revenue, which is the result of the National Debt increasing. Surpluses also have an effect on taxpayers as well. Programs like Social Security and Medicare receive government funding from tax money. Social Security takes contributions made by citizens to accumulate a surplus, which it uses to buy government bonds, which are government debt. These bonds accumulate and eventually mature. The money from the mature bonds helps to pay retirees. As American citizens contribute money into Social Security, the bond purchases mean that the government owes the Social Security program the value of the bonds purchases (Colander, 2010). The debt reported by the government for this purchase, however, is for on-budget accounts, while the U.S. reports…

    • 1420 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Federal Income Tax Syllabus

    • 4954 Words
    • 20 Pages

    We begin with a high-level overview of federal income tax – “the view from 40,000 feet,” so…

    • 4954 Words
    • 20 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are three different levels of the government who assesses the budgets on a federal, local, and state budget. The government's finance team goes over the budget and decides how to distribute the funds. It is very important when distributing money from the tax payers funds. The tax payers money has to be used correctly or when reelection comes around the tax payers may not reelect the officials who used their funds inappropriately.…

    • 546 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Tax Hw 1

    • 355 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Effective tax planning involves considering the role of taxes when implementing the decision rule of maximizing after-tax returns.…

    • 355 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    What exactly is Social Security? Social Security was a program that was created by the federal government that was supported by nearly every working person in America. The Social Security Act was signed in 1935 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, which was to provide retirement, survivors, and disability benefits to workers and their families, and to assume some of the health care costs borne by the elderly and the long term disabled. According to Epstein (2010), “President Roosevelt wanted to be sure that this country would never again face a crisis so disastrous to so many lives” (p. 4).…

    • 1690 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Taxation on payroll is affecting many people in their everyday lives. There are several reasons why taxation on payroll should not occur. These reasons include money going to welfare and funding government programs; which in this case, is taking away money from the food and shelter costs. Payroll should not be taxed for several reasons. Some reasons include expensive government funding programs, welfare, and taking from everyday living costs. This essay will explain what payroll taxes are, what is happening because of payroll taxation, and also what are other ways to tax individual other than on payroll.…

    • 907 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Many Americans expect many services from the government that are exempt from the tax, keeping this in mind the Tax foundation released the annual report so that an awareness will be created among…

    • 301 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Taxes were raised in 2013 on one million individuals on incomes exceeding $200,000 and four million couples filing jointly on incomes exceeding $250,000. They would pay a total of 2.35% (up from 1.45%) Medicare taxes on income above the threshold. They also pay an additional 3.8% Medicare taxes. This applies to the lesser of income from dividends, capital gains, rent and royalties or income above the threshold. (Source: About.com, Tax Impacts of Supreme Court's Health Care Decision, July 3, 2012; Smart Money, What Obamacare Means for Taxes, June 28, 2012)…

    • 947 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The employee pays for a portion of the health coverage through payroll deduction and the organization covers the rest. Other consumers chose to purchase health insurance privately, but it may be very costly and sometimes it might not cover individuals with any pre-existing disorders. According to The Merck Manual (2010-2013), “If people are eligible for government aid because they have limited financial means, are disabled, or are older than 65, health care costs may be covered by plans such as Medicare and Medicaid.” It does not matter what health care coverage option the individual decides to chose, he or she will still have to pay some out-of-pocket expenses such as deductible, co-pays, and cost that exceeds those covered by a plan (The Merck Manual,…

    • 1780 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Times Free Press, timesfreepress.com, Chattanooga Times Free Press Unemployed turn to Social Security Benefits, Adam Crisp…

    • 1722 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Republican Party

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Social Security is the largest government program in the United States that grants support to individuals with little or no income using public funds. In the U.S, the benefits are for retired, unemployed, or…

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    3. Total governmental purchases—Federal, state, and local combined—account for about what percentage of domestic output?…

    • 2269 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays