LOS ANGELES, CA (March 19, 2014) -- According to new findings from personal finance site GOBankingRates.com, just 20.9% of taxpayers say they are absolutely certain how their income tax dollars are spent.
GOBankingRates surveyed 1,501 people on how strongly they agreed with the following statement: “I know how my income tax dollars are used.”
Responses were as follows:
- Strongly agree: 8.5%
- Agree: 12.4%
- Neutral: 29.7%
- Disagree: 23.7%
- Strongly disagree: 25.7%
“Considering the significant percentage of our income that is taken for taxes – between 10% and 39.6% -- it’s amazing more taxpayers aren’t aware of exactly how that money is being used,” said Casey Bond, GOBankingRates’ managing editor. “We wanted to close that knowledge gap and make this information more readily available and digestible to the people who are paying for our country’s programs and benefits.”
To help taxpayers understand what their tax dollars are funding, GOBankingRates released an infographic depicting the average American’s income tax breakdown.
To see the infographic, go to http://bit.ly/1eLrCh7.
GOBankingRates referenced the per capita personal income as a basis for the average American’s tax bill. Some of the biggest spending categories include national defense (24.64%), health care (22.45%), and job and family security (17.26%).
About GOBankingRates
GOBankingRates is a personal finance website that connects consumers with the best interest rates nationwide on savings, checking, money market and CD accounts, as well as auto loans. Its editors are regularly featured on several top media outlets, including U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, Huffington Post, Yahoo! Finance and Business Insider.