This year, I made about $26,700 in wages. My federal taxes come to about $1,800. I overpaid in withholdings by $550. Texas, thankfully, doesn't have an income tax.

Something like half of that tax is devoted to Social Security and Medicare, programs that I probably won't even use in my lifetime. A large chunk can be attributed to military spending, and the sheer inefficiency of the armed forces' budget is shocking. It all goes downhill from there as my tax money is taken for uses that have less and less connection to the principle roles of government.

It would be cool to find a website that could take the data from your federal taxes and split them up into the percentages that go to each major area of spending.

UPDATE(4/15/2004 3:00pm)
It's Income Tax Day, 2004. Read it and weep.