Your 2014 Taxpayer Receipt

Want to know how your federal tax dollars are being spent?

Enter a few pieces of information below, and get a breakdown of how your tax dollars are being spent on priorities like education, veterans benefits, and health care. Here are all the numbers you need:

  • Social Security Tax: This amount should be on your W-2 form in box 4, labeled "Social Security tax withheld."
  • Medicare Tax: This amount should be on your W-2 form in box 6, labeled "Medicare tax withheld."
  • Income Tax: This isn't the additional amount you owe (if any) on April 15, but rather the total amount of federal income taxes for 2014 — amounts already withheld from your paycheck during 2014, plus any additional amount paid on April 15, or minus any refund you applied for on April 15. This amount should be on your income tax return, line 11 of Form 1040EZ or line 55 of Form 1040.

  Click here to learn about the categories listed in the income tax section

The amounts are based on the percentage of overall federal spending for each category in the Fiscal Year 2014 budget. There are key federal programs, such as Social Security, Medicare Hospital Insurance, unemployment insurance, and highway and mass transit spending, that are paid for with dedicated funding sources independent of federal income tax payments. If the cost of these programs exceeds the amount of funding, the difference covered by your income tax dollars is shown on the tax receipt.

Even including revenue from these sources, federal government spending has exceeded its revenue since 2002. This difference is known as the budget deficit, which was $483 billion in 2014.

Learn more about how President Obama's budget would reduce the budget deficit.

 


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