I realize that the United States government is a necessarily complex and convoluted beaurocracy. Thats just the nature of an organization that is so big.
But I have a question that I just can not seem to get answered.
I have tried word searches, and various web-sites to no avail.
My question is this;
We hear alot about a hundred billion dollars being spent here, a few hundred million there etc.
Exactly how much money is put into the government coffers every year...Not just income tax, but ALL the taxes and fee's. You know...sales taxes, import taxes, highway taxes, tarrifs, the whole nine yards.
The money is there! Some of it is cold hard cash and some is funny money. It is a function of the Dept. of Treasury to actually handle the money and it's a function of the GAO to make sure everybody keeps their hands out of the kitty. As far as the actual amount of money, I've got to go so you can continue the search. It may be in Alan Greenspan's Swiss bank account! See ya
Finding out anything about the Federal Gov't is darn near impossible. Talk about wading through a sea of bs.
From the one source that had a readable chart I gound that in 2001 the total Federal tax revenue was just about 1.9 TRILLION dollars. Yep, that's 1,900,000,000,000 little dollar bills all in a row.
Just for fun...a dollar bill is 6" long and is .005" thick. That means that if every dollar bill collected by the US government were taped end to end the resulting chain would be 17,992,424,242 MILES long. Which would mean that the chain would wrap around the Earth's equator a little over 722,529 times, and would require about 29,987,374 miles of Scotch tape, assuming that each piece of tape was 1" long. The chain could also span the mean distance from the Earth to the Moon about 75,326 times, and from the Earth to the Sun 192.4 times.
If the bills were stacked the stack would be 149,936 miles high! The aforementioned "belt" of bills wrapping around the Earth would create a wall separating the northern and southern hemispheres 301 feet high.
So the total Federal tax revenue devided by every man, woman and child in the U.S. is roughly $6,588.
And you haven't even started on State, Local, Municipalities......not to mention non-tax taxes....ie. registration fees, building permit fees, road use fees, tolls, etc.
The whole idea is that you, nor anyone else is to ever really figure it out! Because if enough Americans do.....the Boston Tea Party and the American Revolutionary War will look like a picnic....in comparison!
There are so many hidden taxes, upon taxes, that the average working American probably has 50% of their income siphoned off.....and that is from what is left after you pay federal income tax! Think I'm kidding.....add it up! Sales taxes, local taxes, property taxes, school taxes, tax on gasoline, building permit fees (another word for tax), auto registrations (another word for tax), city parking fees (another word for tax).......need I go on. Plus all those items you buy and pay sales taxes on....they have already been taxed during manufacturing....as in the cost of employees income taxes added on, etc. We pay so many layered taxes, (that are purposely hidden), that there would be an outright revolt......if there weren't so many apathetic, duped, ignorant (as in uninformed) Americans.
And no.....I don't expect it to change.....too many Americans are fat, dumb, and happy! As long as the TV works, there's a beer in the fridg, and Mac and Cheese in the cupboard......they don't want to know!
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You can live life, or simply grow old!
You do pay about half your income in taxes. I think SD has the earliest tax freedom day in the U. S. In SD you work through May to pay your taxes. All other states are even worse. There has not actually been any money for many years since it is no longer based on Gold or anything else of value. Our money is now based on one thing. That is the ability and or willingness of the American working person to keep producing products and services. Just legger book juggleing is what keeps us afloat. Like my cousin always says " Hell just keep printing money and we will all play the Game"
Location: Adirondack Moutains USA Member since sept/02
Posts: 1,639
RE: How much money
That's a good question, but lets not forget the lottery games, toll both colections, tractortrailer highway taxes, hunting fishing lic. car lic, reg. etc... Basically there is so much sh** out there that it would be almost impossible to figure out, do you think maybe they want it this way?
Anybody looked at a commercial phone bill lately? My wife and I just opened a barber shop for her about six months ago. A commercial phone line with this company is roughly $70.00, but the total bill was $90.00. That's not including a single long distance call.
I started poring over the bill and realized there are SEVENTEEN charges in all. Anybody want to venture a guess where most of those EXTRA charges are going???
I'm about ready to lead the revolt myself.[:'(]
I'm going to make my mantra "LESS GOVERNMENT, MORE FREEDOM!!!"
I for one am getting sick and tired of barely making ends meet so some politician in D.C. can hire an aide to wipe his butt for him. I think the size of our government is one of the largest problems with the economy. People are making plenty of money, but they have to promptly turn it over to every form of government out there. Our founding fathers never intended for our government to get this big and they certainly never intended for them to nickel and dime us out of half our earnings.
How much money
! As long as the TV works, there's a beer in the fridg, and Mac and Cheese in the cupboard......they don't want to know!
