Dominik Lett
Dominik Lett
It’s officially Tax Day. Time to take stock.
The federal government spent $7.1 trillion in 2024. Tax dollars paid for $5.3 trillion, or 74 percent. The rest (26 percent) was borrowed. This $1.8 trillion in deficit spending is deferred taxation. Inevitably, borrowing will be paid for by new taxes or inflation, meaning our children and grandchildren will pay the price for higher spending today.
Where did all that money go?
The federal government spends the most on transfer programs. That is when the government redistributes money from one group to another rather than supplying governmental services like national defense.
As the chart below shows:
Major entitlements—Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security—devoured nearly half of the 2024 budget. ($3.1 trillion)
Other non-defense discretionary and mandatory programs, primarily benefits and subsidies, consumed another 32 percent. This includes a vast range of programs, such as welfare for food and housing, federal employee retirement, disability benefits, veterans’ benefits, and unemployment benefits. ($2.3 trillion)
Overall, two-thirds of government spending went to pay some sort of benefit to someone.
Interest on the US federal debt consumed another 12 percent of the budget. ($881 billion)
Slightly less, $850 billion, or 12 percent, went toward national defense, meaning we spent more this year financing past fiscal irresponsibility than on the military.
The federal government’s budget outlook is quite dismal as well. Federal health care programs and Social Security make up more than half of projected spending growth over the next 30 years. Interest costs from servicing the federal debt account for another quarter of 30-year spending growth. Together, $8 in $10 of spending growth is traceable to major entitlement programs and interest costs on the national debt.
Meanwhile, most Americans seem more focused on the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its efforts to cut waste, fraud, and abuse. » Read More
https://www.cato.org/blog/its-tax-season-heres-how-washington-spent-money