Nobody likes paying taxes.  The act of giving up your hard earned money into an amorphous abyss of government spending can feel like you are getting anally probed by aliens.  Perhaps it may be necessary to those in charge, but it is certainly violating and uncomfortable.

The idea of where your taxes are going can turn citizen against citizen. People get resentful towards those they think their taxes are benefitting and you often hear “why are my tax dollars going to help this person when I work every day and take care of myself?”  The assumption seems to be that your money is going directly into the pockets of people who are benefitting off the system that you don’t want to feel responsible for.

But is that really how the government is spending our tax dollars?  Helping people?

The reality of our federal budget is that 60% of our tax dollars are going to the military spending, and the other 40% is dispersed with the greatest percentage of the pie at 7%.  So really, the majority of our tax dollars are going to the military, and a much smaller percentage towards social services.

Some people may absolutely agree with how the money is currently being budgeted, and some may not.

So I think I have a really good solution!

Why don’t we get to choose where our taxes go????

If we had some choice in where our personal tax money was being sent, I bet a lot of us would feel more positive paying our taxes.  So I asked The Munch where she would want her taxes to go, and I learned a lot about her.  Assuming she would say “education” I was surprised by her more conservative thinking.

“Strawberry pancakes.”

“Munch, you want your taxes to go to strawberry pancakes? That makes no sense.”

“Sandbox.  I want sandbox.”

“So other children can have sandboxes?”

“No, Munchee bigger sandbox!”