EDITORIAL: How are your tax dollars spent?

April 05-- Apr. 5--With the deadline for filing your income taxes approaching in less than two weeks, there's no better time to familiarize yourselves with how your tax dollars are spent.

What are the biggest departments and programs to benefit from tax dollars?

According to the Office of Management and Budget, in 2017, the largest portion of the federal budget was for Medicare, Medicaid, Children's Health Insurance Program and marketplace subsidies, with the next largest sections being Social Security and defense.

In Minnesota, the Department of Revenue provides the following breakdown of your tax dollars:

--34.2 percent toward early childhood and K-12 education.

--24.5 percent toward health care.

--11.4 percent toward transportation.

--6.4 percent toward property tax aids and credits.

--6.1 percent toward higher education.

--4.3 percent toward other health and human services.

--2.6 percent toward debt service.

--2.2 percent toward environment, energy, natural resources and agriculture.

--2.1 percent toward state government.

--1.4 percent toward economic development.

--0.7 percent is unallocated.

We encourage residents at this time of year to pay attention to what taxes you're paying, and educate yourselves on where that money goes once it leaves your bank account.

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(c)2019 the Fergus Falls Daily Journal (Fergus Falls, Minn.)

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