Where do my income tax dollars go?

After that the bills start to look pretty manageable — but then you’ve only got about $160 left. You’ve got to keep up in a fast-changing, competitive global world, so Uncle Sam spends $44.60 per thousand on education, including $19.00 on colleges and universities and $15.00 on elementary and secondary schools. Workers training programs cost $2.70 and social services related to education and training cost another $6.20. 

You may have also heard your elected representatives talk about their commitment to keeping American in the forefront of science and technology. Last year, they’ve devoted $3.40 to general science and basic research. Another $5.50 went to pay for the space program.

Like anyone else, Uncle Sam has to get around. Transportation costs ate up $26.50 per thousand in federal spending, including $17.00 for ground transportation; $6.80 for air travel and $2.50 for water transport. Imagine spending just $17 bucks a week on your car and $2.50 for a boat.

The government also spent a few of your tax dollars on agriculture ($9.80) and the environment ($12.40). So call it $22.20 for landscaping and gardening.

While our military is working to keep the peace overseas, keeping the peace at home was a relative bargain. Total spending for the administration of justice came to $15.40, including federal law enforcement ($7.50), and maintaining the federal courts ($3.80) and federal prisons ($2.30).

Despite all the headlines about billions spent for helping victims of natural calamities like hurricane Katrina, federal disaster relief and insurance spending amounted to just $17.40 per thousand last year. Another $3.20 went to community and regional development.

And while some readers complain about seeing their tax dollars going to fund aid to other countries, it’s not a big number. Last year, $6.30 went to pay for international development and humanitarian assistance. Housing ambassadors around the world and other expenses related to conducting international affairs set you back $3.20.  Another $2.90 went to help beef up security outside our borders.

Finally, spending all this money and managing all these activities also cost money. So figure $6.90 for general government costs.

So there you have it. Not all of that money came from your incomes taxes, by the way. This year individuals will pay about $1.2 trillion of the $2.7 trillion federal spending, while corporations will pay $342 billion. The rest comes form Social Security taxes ($873 billion); excises taxes ($57 billion) and other taxes and fees ($98 billion.)

For everything else, there’s U.S. Treasury debt.

What is the reason for having a extra day to file federal income taxes?
-- Lloyd F., Monroe, La.

In fact, this year we all get a two-day extension. The first extra day was simple enough: because April 15 falls on a Sunday – not a business day – you would otherwise get until midnight Monday, the 16th to file your return.

The reason for the second extra day is a little more complicated. At first, the extra day only applied to taxpayers who live six Northeast states and the District of Columbia, whose returns are processed the IRS’s Andover, Mass. office. That’s because people in the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts – including the federal workers at the IRS - celebrate Monday as Patriots’ Day, a legal holiday. 

So far so good. It wasn’t after the IRS printed up its forms – giving an extra two days just to those folks whose returns go to Andover – that someone noticed that April 16 is also holiday in the District of Columbia. Though not a federal holiday, Monday is Emancipation Day, a legal holiday for people who live in our nation’s capitol - including federal workers at the IRS.

Originally celebrated every year from 1866 to 1901, Emancipation Day marks Abraham Lincoln's 1862 signing of the act that ended slavery in the District. This year, thousands of people are expected to march to Congress to press for legislation giving D.C. a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Meanwhile, up in Massachusetts, they’ll still be celebrating Patriots’ Day. For those of you who don’t remember, the holiday commemorates the Revolutionary War battle of Lexington and Concord, which was fought on April 19, 1775. (In the 1960s, the date was changed to the third Monday in April.)

On Monday, they’ll hold a re-enactment of the battle, a Red Sox game at Fenway Park (this year, against the LA Angels) and the annual running of the Boston Marathon.

At this writing, the forecast was for rain and temperatures in the 30s. So don’t forget to bring your slicker.

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