# What percentage of the Federal budget goes to Welfare? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 15, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-federal-budget-goes-to-welfare/557251 "2010-10-15T15:55:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2010, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-federal-budget-goes-to-welfare/557251/41 "2010-12-07T12:36:58Z")
Now I see… thanks. If EITC isn’t welfare it’s pretty darn close. The OP only took student loans and social security off the table. EITC is much closer to a handout than those even if there is a work requirement. Actually **Oliver** raised the bar when he used the phrase “in need of basic sustenance without the ability to do so for themselves” … that should take alot of handouts off the table. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2010, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-federal-budget-goes-to-welfare/557251/42 "2010-12-07T12:48:47Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Well, not quite. 80% of retirees receive more in Social Security benefits than they paid in payroll taxes. A good article and chart on this topic can be found [here](http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2010/04/social-security-payroll-tax-is-very.html). > > For most retirees, where do you think the “extra” money comes from? One would think that all that money would have earned some interest in the interim. . . ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2010, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-federal-budget-goes-to-welfare/557251/43 "2010-12-07T13:22:00Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > Like my sister in law, diagnosed with MS at age 29 who gets to spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair, not needing\* to move a muscle below her neck for the rest of her life, sucking off the taxpayers’ teat for free. > > \*or “able”. But we’re using the term loosely. Or like the guy I knew who had been drawing a disability check for years for a heart condition (that did not prevent him from playing golf four times a week). Anecdote war! Which one is right? Because it _can’t possibly_be both! ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-federal-budget-goes-to-welfare/557251/44 "2010-12-08T04:03:08Z")
Social Security is funded by payroll taxes. it is not a drag on the deficit. It includes survivors benefits for kids whose parents die leaving them unprotected. It pays for disabled who are unable to work, like car accident victims and people who get hurt in some way that keeps them from providing for themselves. For many seniors it is all they have to keep them off the streets. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-federal-budget-goes-to-welfare/557251/45 "2010-12-09T05:49:50Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > My numbers were rough above. 36/2655.4 = 1.4%. So if you want to add it in, change my figures to 10.7 - 14.7% of the budget. Oops, I take that back. EITC was on my list of means-tested programs. So using a broad definition of welfare, it was about **9.2 - 13.3% of the 2006 budget** , depending upon whether you want to include nursing home care, most of which goes to former members of the middle class. The 9.2% figure includes certain veterans benefits, the EITC, the child tax credit and payments for children’s health care. What is considered “Welfare” is purely a matter of definition of course. And welfare payments will be a great deal higher during times of recession. ETA: Oops again: 9.2% only covers the _refundable portion_ of the EITC. But the whole program is only 1.4% of the budget anyway, and my figures were pretty rough. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-federal-budget-goes-to-welfare/557251/46 "2010-12-09T06:06:51Z")
Ok guys: The people of the nation through their elected representatives have decided that certain dollars raised through taxation should be used to assist a proportion of the population NOT in need of basic sustenance. What is the percentage of the national budget that goes to these programs? ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-federal-budget-goes-to-welfare/557251/47 "2010-12-09T07:47:30Z")
I don’t know, but you’re unlikely to get out of the 3-15% range at least during times of prosperity and not considering Obamacare. So definitely over 85% of the typical budget and probably more than 90% is pensions, the military, interest on the debt and other nonwelfare spending. Of course if you consider pensions to be welfare, that’s another ball of wax. The Federal government is a big pension plan that happens to have an army. One day it will have a health insurance function tacked on, after the US catches up with the rest of the developed world. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-federal-budget-goes-to-welfare/557251.md?page=2)