Where Do Your Taxes Go??

I stumbled across an interesting breakdown of where income tax gets distributed in Reader's Digest and thought I would pass it along.

A U.S. Taxpayer earning the 2009 median income ($34,140) and paying $5,400 in federal income tax and FICA ponies up for the following, for starters:

Social Security.........................................................................................$1,040.70

Medicare......................................................................................................$625.51
Medicaid.......................................................................................................$385.28
Interest on the national debt.....................................................................$287.03
Combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan............................................$229.17
Military personnel......................................................................................$192.79
Veterans benefits........................................................................................$74.65
Federal highways.........................................................................................$63.89
Health-care research (NIH)........................................................................$46.54
Foreign aid...................................................................................................$46.08
Education funding for low-income K-12 students..................................$38.17
Military retirement benefits.......................................................................$32.60
Pell Grants for low-income college students..........................................$29.75
NASA space program..................................................................................$28.09
Internal Revenue Service..........................................................................$17.69
Environmental cleanup (EPA)....................................................................$11.67
FBI..................................................................................................................$11.21
Head Start.....................................................................................................$10.91
Public housing..............................................................................................$10.50
National parks................................................................................................$4.27
Drug Enforcement Administration..............................................................$3.14
Amtrak.............................................................................................................$2.23
Smithsonian Museum.....................................................................................$1.12
Funding for the arts........................................................................................$0.24
Salaries and benefits for members of congress.......................................$0.19