When I go to my dry cleaners, they have a sign that says, “If you’re not offered a receipt, your order is free.” Same thing in the convenience store. And about most of the places I shop. Even the liquor store, for goodness sake.
Except when I pay my taxes. No itemized receipt. They want to know how much I make. But they don’t want to tell me where they spend it. Not even a “thank you.”
Here’s a nice website so you can find out. Sort of. It’s the “Federal Taxpayer Receipt.” It’s from the Whitehouse, so you know you can trust it. It’s a nice try, but kind of vague.
Here’s a screen grab from the website. (Click it to make it bigger)

Tax site screen grab
I’m not that impressed. I want some detail. For example you can expand all the categories, (at least get a little more detail) except the last six. One that bothers me is “Additional Government Programs,” at 7.9%. Eight percent under one lump category? Bogus. When I budget projects in my job, Eileen would never let me get away with, “Other stuff, 8%.” Not a chance.
Actually,the total of the last six categories is 19.6%, or, “other stuff.” There is little or no itemization or explanation.
Here are two of the categories expanded.

Again, I’m going to need some more itemization. It’s like saying you went to the grocery store and spend $150.00. Well, what did you spend it on? Filet mignon and bacon? Or chips and salsa?
You can make some of your own conclusions. I want to know how much the Department of Education gets, and what they’re doing with it. Because a lot of the schools suck and we’re seriously falling behind in the hard sciences. I’m not sure whether that’s because of the money we spend, or that we spend too much time debating sexuality. You know, stop the social B.S. and teach the kids some stuff, eh? That’s just one example. Let’s not talk about the post office or the Driver’s License Bureau, or the…well anyway.
I’d like an itemized receipt. So I could say “I spend how much on robotic squirrels? Nope, cross that off, want my money back on that one.” Yea, that’s an extreme example. We all need to pay for some stuff. So, take how much money the government spent, divide it by the number of eligible taxpayers, and…oh, tack on a bunch more for the “rich” and let the…well, this is where it starts to get complicated, eh.
The government is taking our money. And they’re starting to take more of it from those of us who earn it, and give it to those who don’t. (Has that happened before?) The scales will tip, sooner or later. I’d like to at least get a nice high-speed train out of it.