# What do taxes pay for? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 30, 2000, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-taxes-pay-for/9456 "2000-03-30T03:43:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Big\_Trigger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Big\_Trigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Trigger)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-taxes-pay-for/9456/1 "2000-03-30T03:43:00Z")
I just need to know exactly what all taxes pay for. Any help would be appreciated ---
**Author:** ![Squee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@Squee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squee)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-taxes-pay-for/9456/2 "2000-03-30T04:12:00Z")
Look at the pie charts in the tax form booklets… they should give you a general idea of where the money is going to. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-taxes-pay-for/9456/3 "2000-03-30T04:25:00Z")
Just a few things off the top of my head (by “all taxes” I’m assuming you mean local, state and federal, income, sales, property, etc.): police dept/law enforcement, fire dept, schools, roads, welfare, public libraries, public/elected officials’ salaries, building/maintaining public buildings (e.g. town halls, courthouses, capitol buildings), employees that work in said public buildings (secretaries, janitors, clerks). This is by no means a comprehensive list. Essentially, any service provided by a local, state or federal government/public agency. ---
**Author:** ![Stonecutter912](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5fc32e/32.png) [@Stonecutter912](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stonecutter912)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-taxes-pay-for/9456/4 "2000-03-30T05:31:00Z")
Mainly, they pay for Clinton stuff. Bill’s dates, Hillary’s plans for the total destruction of the US, etc. They also paid to make Al Gore a real boy rather than a wooden puppet. Didn’t work tho… ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-taxes-pay-for/9456/5 "2000-03-30T16:57:00Z")
Nice list, Kat, although I can’t believe you forgot defense, which is one of the biggest items that taxes pay for. * * * Chaim Mattis Keller [ckeller@kozmo.com](mailto:ckeller@kozmo.com) “Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible. The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks.” – Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-taxes-pay-for/9456/6 "2000-03-31T01:09:00Z")
Well, there’s a perfectly logical explanation for that, Chaim. I was technically brain dead for several hours last night. Because MPSIMS was glitched. * * * Your Official Cat Goddess since 10/20/99. _Hey, I like that hat, man. They sell men’s clothes where you got that?_ ---
**Author:** ![SingleDad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@SingleDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SingleDad)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-taxes-pay-for/9456/7 "2000-03-31T04:27:00Z")
[Budget of the United States Government](http://w3.access.gpo.gov/usbudget/fy2001/maindown.html) You can find many state budget publications through a search engine. Search on “budget \” For instance, the I found the [California State Budget](http://www.cbp.org/basics/rnec/1moneygo.html) through [Yahoo U.S. States \> California \> Government \> Budget](http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/U_S__States/California/Government/Budget/) * * * No matter where you go, there you are.