What your taxes pay for
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
Politicians and pundits are making plenty of noise these days about cutting the deficit, reigning in spending, and trimming the fat out of federal, state, and local budgets. They all have their favorite bones to pick. I don’t know anyone who likes to pay taxes, maybe because we feel as if that money we worked so hard for is just going down a rathole.
For those of us who want to know where that tax money is really going, Google and Eyebeam Gallery have created this infographic visualization of the federal budget using data provided by WhatWePayFor.com. It’s part of a promotional contest meant to inspire designers, based on actual facts. It contains relevant information that provides insight into our nation’s priorities as well as what some have described as structural impediments to solving the deficit problem. At the least, it’s an eye-opener that we can relate to because it is based on an average family’s tax bill.
I don’t know about you, but I have trouble relating billions or trillions of dollars to anything in my real-world experience. This visualization may not make swallowing tax day or listening to political blustering any easier, but it might help put things into perspective. And if you’re a designer, it might be a great promotional opportunity for your business.