About

Understanding how the US federal government spends our tax dollars, especially when some department budgets stretch into abstract and intangible numbers like hundreds of billions, is a challenge. This tool was created to help make the federal budget more accessible and relatable, while trying to clear up persistent misunderstandings around how the money is spent (for example, most Americans dramatically overestimate spending on foreign aid) and what the biggest drivers of the deficit are. It has been reviewed by current and former employees of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Department of Treasury, and Congressional budget staff to help ensure accuracy.

The receipt was originally launched all the way back in the Spring of 2011, but was not maintained/updated from 2015 until this year (2025). It was originally inspired by a 2010 blog post by Washington Post columnist Ezra Klein and a proposal by the group “The Third Way.” In 2011, the Obama White House put out its own “Taxpayer Receipt,” as have others. There are a number of features that make this one different. Most notably, it doesn’t expect you to remember how much you paid in income taxes (which are estimated for you) and allows you to compare spending over time.

If you have ideas as to how the experience might be improved, find this tool useful, or have any other feedback, please feel free to send an e-mail to feedback @ this domain.

Frequently Anticipated Questions

How are these numbers calculated?

The amount you pay in taxes is calculated using the Income Tax Rates published by the IRS (e.g. 2010) for that year's income tax and the payroll tax rates.

Program costs are a little more complicated. Overall numbers are drawn from a variety of sources, including statute as well as the White House Office of Management & Budget’s (OMB) historical tables (specifically Table 3.1 and Table 3.2).

Once the cost of each category (called “Function” by OMB) is calculated, we assign them a tax (or percentage thereof) and divide your tax bill proportionally for each category. Your portion of the deficit is calculated using Table 1.4 from OMB, which shows the total outlays and deficit for each year. Your portion of the deficit is calculated as

ratio_deficit = (deficit / outlays)
borrowed = (ratio_deficit * paid) / (1 - ratio_deficit)

Finally, on the time series pages, we adjust for inflation using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

income_year2 = income_year1 * (cpi_year2 / cpi_year1)

There are a number of simplifying assumptions here, so these figures should be treated as approximate, for educational purposes only, and should not be used for tax filing or in place of professional tax advice.

For more information on the budget process, visit the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’s website.

How have taxes and spending changed over time?

Taxes have changed over time to account for new federal programs (e.g. Social Security, Medicare), in response to world events (e.g. the end of the Cold War), and as the US' role has changed in the world. At the same time, the top marginal tax rate has been generally decreasing since World War II while the inequality between the richest five percent of househoulds and the rest of the population has been increasing. For a dispassionate look at the numbers, see tables 2.1 and 3.1.

When will 2025 numbers be available?

Since these numbers are based on actual money spent by the US government, rather than projections, these data are typically not available until the spring of the following year. For example, 2024 data were released in early 2025. Once available, they will be added as soon as possible.