It was announced today that we have to work 107 days to pay our taxes this year. Every year this number is announced and it always shocks me. 

There are a lot of good things about taxes – schools, police and fire protection, nice roads, etc, but it’s beyond my comprehension where all the tax money really goes. When you consider all the taxes we pay from federal and state to taxes on cell phone bills and electric bills and so on, it’s a miracle we have anything left to spend at all. 

The federal budget is trillions of dollars – what does a ‘trillion dollars’ even look like? The federal government has trillions of dollars to allocate to various things but there are still people starving a couple miles from my house. 

Everyone likes to rant about the budget (and deficit) and that’s not really my intent here. My intent is simply pointing out that I can’t comprehend the staggering amount of money various government agencies have their hands on. It seems like a lot of it is used well – I like it when I call 911 and someone shows up to help. I like driving on paved roads and I think my kids are getting a decent education, but as for the rest of it – who knows?