By JANE SASSEEN
Yahoo! Politics
Just how much of the federal taxes you pay go to footing the bill for U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan? Or, what's your share of the tab for interest on the national debt? And how about to fund Medicare and Social Security, or to support foreign aid or the FBI?
The simple truth is most of us don't have any idea how Uncle Sam divvies up the money we send him every year. That makes it hard to understand the real choices the country faces as Congress and the President debate how to get our fiscal house in order.
Below is an example of a typical married couple with two kids who earn $69,800 -- the median U.S. income for that type of household. After taking standard deductions, they would pay federal taxes of $6,993. Where does their money go? Take a look.
Now see how your own taxes are divvied up. A prominent centrist think tank called Third Way has come up with a simple interactive calculator for taxpayers. Add up what you paid in 2010 federal income taxes, along with the FICA payroll taxes you contributed to fund Social Security and Medicare, enter the total into the calculator, and you'll� instantly see where your money went.
Just go here: Taxpayer receipt.
On the Third Way site, there's plenty more information available, as each of the broad expenditure categories is broken into more detail.
Of the 20.2% of your tax bill that goes to defense, for example, you can see how much you're paying for Iraq and Afghanistan, how much goes to the CIA, or how much helps keep nuclear weapons safe.
Under the Arts & Culture tab, you can check out your share of the bill for the National Endowment for the Arts or for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the parent company to National Public Radio.
As for that popular notion that trimming foreign aid will go a long way to solving our fiscal woes? Unfortunately, that won't help much: Foreign aid accounts for less than 1% of what Uncle Sam spends.
So go ahead and play with Third Way's tax receipt calculator. See what surprises you find. (The White House liked the idea so much that they've launched their own version, called the 2010 Federal Taxpayer Receipt, as well.) Then come back and tell us what you learned in the comments below, or join the conversation on the Yahoo! Politics Facebook page.
Jane Sasseen is the editor-in-chief of politics and opinion at Yahoo! News.
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