FACT SHEET: Your 2024 Tax Receipt

It’s spring, and that means Americans are filing their tax returns. Most will know whether they get a refund, but how many know where their tax dollars really go?

Each year at tax time, the National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies produces a tax receipt that shows where your 2023 income taxes went.

In 2023, the average taxpayer subsidized corporate contractors, including:

Just like our personal expenses, our income tax payments can change our lives for the better — or not. If we put more funds into education, we’ll probably see kids and families better off. If we put more into Pentagon contracts, we’ll see their CEOs and shareholders better off — and we’ll see U.S. weapons used in conflicts around the world.

The military budget is supposed to prioritize security and the troops, but too often it prioritizes profit instead. Our receipt shows that the average taxpayer contributed $1,748 last year for Pentagon contracts, but that same taxpayer contributed just $705 for military troops’ pay and housing allowances. Entry-level pay for enlistment in the Army is $24,206, or the equivalent of $11.64 per hour — low enough to put many troops and their families on food stamps and other public assistance programs.