--- title: Do You Know Where Your Tax Dollars Go? description: The average income tax payment is around $10,000. But what happens to these tax dollars once they are processed? Here's a breakdown of how this average income tax is divided between various budget lines like military, science and education and health. image: https://blog.transonic.com/hubfs/tax-dollars.jpg --- [![Customer Login](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/40716/9ebb5f25-e3e3-45fd-b525-1b9073c47d36.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/40716/9ebb5f25-e3e3-45fd-b525-1b9073c47d36) [![Transonic_logo-456](https://blog.transonic.com/hs-fs/hubfs/email-assets/newsletter/Transonic_logo-456.png?width=190&height=50&name=Transonic_logo-456.png "Transonic_logo-456")](https://www.transonic.com/) [![Talk with an Expert](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/40716/44c87484-21b7-4747-832d-28806f592c2d.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/40716/44c87484-21b7-4747-832d-28806f592c2d) ![mail-icon](https://blog.transonic.com/hubfs/Transonic_2019/Images/mail-icon.png) ## Hear more from our team: - [** ](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://blog.transonic.com/cardiothoracic-surgery/do-you-know-where-your-tax-dollars-go&title=Do%20You%20Know%20Where%20Your%20Tax%20Dollars%20Go?&picture=https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/40716/tax-dollars.jpg&description=The%20average%20income%20tax%20payment%20is%20around%20$10,000.%20But%20what%20happens%20to%20these%20tax%20dollars%20once%20they%20are%20processed?%20Here's%20a%20breakdown%20of%20how%20this%20average%20income%20tax%20is%20divided%20between%20various%20budget%20lines%20like%20military,%20science%20and%20education%20and%20health.) - [**](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://blog.transonic.com/cardiothoracic-surgery/do-you-know-where-your-tax-dollars-go&title=Do%20You%20Know%20Where%20Your%20Tax%20Dollars%20Go?&summary=The%20average%20income%20tax%20payment%20is%20around%20$10,000.%20But%20what%20happens%20to%20these%20tax%20dollars%20once%20they%20are%20processed?%20Here's%20a%20breakdown%20of%20how%20this%20average%20income%20tax%20is%20divided%20between%20various%20budget%20lines%20like%20military,%20science%20and%20education%20and%20health.) - - [**](mailto:?subjetc=&body=Do+You+Know+Where+Your+Tax+Dollars+Go%3F%20-%20https://blog.transonic.com/cardiothoracic-surgery/do-you-know-where-your-tax-dollars-go) # Do You Know Where Your Tax Dollars Go? By [Susan Eymann, MS](https://blog.transonic.com/cardiothoracic-surgery/author/susan-eymann-ms)04 May 2018 Most of us have recently filled out and paid our income taxes. The average income tax payment is about $10,000. But did you know that Medicaid and Medicare combined are one of the top expenditures from that average $10,000 we pay in tax dollars?![tax-dollars](https://blog.transonic.com/hs-fs/hubfs/tax-dollars.jpg?width=300&height=200&name=tax-dollars.jpg) Almost 30% of our income taxes go to payment for Medicare and Medicaid. In dollar amounts, that is $2,981, of which $1,289 goes to Medicaid and the other $1,145 goes to Medicare. This is in addition to the money taken from our paychecks for the Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid Trust Funds. Health costs represent just a couple of dollars less than that spent by our largest federal budget line item, the military—which claims $2,983 of every $10,000 in income taxes. Next in line is interest on our national debt, with $1,420 (14%) from every $10,000 in taxes collected. Dollars for housing assistance and food—including food stamps and disaster relief/insurance—as well as labor are similar to the amount paid on the national debt, claiming 13% ($1,305) of our tax dollars. In contrast, spending on science and education is a mere **one-half of one percent**, or $504. That includes 50 cents allotted to the National Endowment for the Arts; 62 cents to NASA; and 77 cents to elementary and secondary education. Finally, Land and Energy—which includes agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency and National Parks—glean less than one/fourth of one percent, or $201, from each $10,000 of income taxes collected. To sum it up, $10,000 in income taxes is divided as follows: 1. Military ($2,983) 2. Health ($2,981) 3. Interest on Debt ($1,420) 4. Housing, Food, Labor ($1,305) 5. Governance, Law, Commerce ($606) 6. Science and Education ($504) 7. Land and Energy ($201) *Reference: Gleaned from GEICO Coinage: an infographic by Emily Barone and Lon Tweeten featured in Time magazine.* [![Subscribe to the Transonic Blog ](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/40716/1da26158-ba14-4c13-a4d5-8ae334f7e2da.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/40716/1da26158-ba14-4c13-a4d5-8ae334f7e2da)  - [** ](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://blog.transonic.com/cardiothoracic-surgery/do-you-know-where-your-tax-dollars-go&title=Do%20You%20Know%20Where%20Your%20Tax%20Dollars%20Go?&picture=https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/40716/tax-dollars.jpg&description=The%20average%20income%20tax%20payment%20is%20around%20$10,000.%20But%20what%20happens%20to%20these%20tax%20dollars%20once%20they%20are%20processed?%20Here's%20a%20breakdown%20of%20how%20this%20average%20income%20tax%20is%20divided%20between%20various%20budget%20lines%20like%20military,%20science%20and%20education%20and%20health.) - [**](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://blog.transonic.com/cardiothoracic-surgery/do-you-know-where-your-tax-dollars-go&title=Do%20You%20Know%20Where%20Your%20Tax%20Dollars%20Go?&summary=The%20average%20income%20tax%20payment%20is%20around%20$10,000.%20But%20what%20happens%20to%20these%20tax%20dollars%20once%20they%20are%20processed?%20Here's%20a%20breakdown%20of%20how%20this%20average%20income%20tax%20is%20divided%20between%20various%20budget%20lines%20like%20military,%20science%20and%20education%20and%20health.) - [**](https://twitter.com/share?source=https://blog.transonic.com/cardiothoracic-surgery/do-you-know-where-your-tax-dollars-go&text=Do%20You%20Know%20Where%20Your%20Tax%20Dollars%20Go?%20-%20https://blog.transonic.com/cardiothoracic-surgery/do-you-know-where-your-tax-dollars-go) - [**](mailto:?subjetc=&body=Do+You+Know+Where+Your+Tax+Dollars+Go%3F%20-%20https://blog.transonic.com/cardiothoracic-surgery/do-you-know-where-your-tax-dollars-go) [![Transonic_logo-456](https://blog.transonic.com/hs-fs/hubfs/email-assets/newsletter/Transonic_logo-456.png?width=190&height=50&name=Transonic_logo-456.png "Transonic_logo-456")](https://www.transonic.com/) © 2023 Transonic. 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