Where Do Your Federal Income Taxes Go?

After recently filing your taxes wouldn’t you like to know where your federal tax dollars are being spent? According to The National Priorities Project, here’s a quick breakdown:

In 2025, the average taxpayer paid $4049 for war and weapons. Of that, 4049, 1800 went to Pentagon contractors, with their CEO’s making roughly 25,000,000 a year. That leaves very little for the troops, $770 of your federal taxes to be precise, where 1 out of 11 vets are on public benefits.

School lunches, relied on by 30,000,000 kids, received $124 of your federal taxes. While $136 went to nuclear weapons, with the US Postal Service, the only delivery service in many rural areas, receiving $19.

Medicaid received $2,492 and is relied on by 6.8 million Americans, 1 in 5 people, where over half of Medicaid recipients are children. Mass deportations and detention got $119. While the Federal Aviation Administration, which has a dangerously low level of air traffic controllers, received $19.

Aid for foreign militaries, such as Israel’s attacks on Gaza, Iran and Lebanon received $57, with diplomacy to foster peace and prevent war getting $49.

For those that worked in 2025 here’s a breakdown of your days:

50 days of your income tax went to weapons and war, 23 days of which went to the Pentagon contractors and 9.5 to military personnel.

30 days to Medicaid.

27.2 to Medicare

.4 to substance abuse and mental health programs.

9 days to federal food and agriculture programs. 4.9 to SNAP. 1.5 to school lunch programs.

Less than 7 days went to federal educational programs covering public schools K-12 and beyond.

Half a day went to international programs.

13 minutes of your time worked went to public broadcasting. Public broadcasting, as well as providing cultural, educational and historical entertainment, provides vital information for many rural areas.

7.5 days went to the Dept of Education.

2.2 to FEMA.

1.6 to The Environmental Protection Agency.

It’s estimated that the US has spent almost 35 billion on the war with Iran, costing the average taxpayer $130.

It should also be noted that the Big Beautiful Bill that passed in 2025 gave more federal tax dollars to the Department of Defense, and Trump has another BBB planned for 2026 to do the same. Trump has requested 1.5 trillion for defense spending next year, which is an increase from the 1 trillion dollar budget this year.

Stay safe and stay informed.