Americans Spend More $$$ on Taxes than Housing, Food & Clothing

Under the four years of failed leadership and "share the wealth" policies of President Obama, you will be spending more of your hard earned money on paying taxes to support others -- than you will on your own housing, clothing ad food expenses combined!

From The Tax Foundation --

In 2012, Americans will pay approximately $4.041 trillion in taxes, which is $152 billion, or 3.9%, more than they will spend on housing, food, and clothing combined, according to a new study from the Tax Foundation. In addition, an increasing proportion of government benefits now go to pay for those same basic expenses of low-income Americans.

Examining the trends of tax collections and expenditures on housing, food, and clothing for the past several decades, the study shows that an ever-increasing amount of taxpayer money has gone into government programs that subsidize or pay for essential household goods. Cash and voucher benefits now pay for over a third of basic household expenses, up from less than 1% in 1929 and less than 20% in the early 1970s.

"Transfer payments, or government social benefits, have grown to represent a substantial portion of money spent on living expenses, encompassing housing, food, clothing, healthcare, and transportation," said Tax Foundation Adjunct Scholar Kevin Duncan. "This means that the government is picking up an increasing portion of the tab for these essential goods."

From the creation of Medicare in 1965 through 2010, transfer payments rose from 11.39% to 34.79% of living expenditures. While some money spent on transfer programs is spent on other items besides healthcare, food, clothing, transportation, and housing, the strong prevalence of in-kind benefits, or government transfer payments for a specific item or service, keeps this as a small fraction of overall expenditures.

Between 1929 and the early 1980s, aggregate tax collections were less than total expenditures on housing, food, and clothing. From 1929 to 1980, tax liabilities grew from $10 billion to $751 billion, while expenditures on housing, food, and clothing grew from $41.6 billion to $775.7 billion. The gap between tax collections and expenditures on essential goods reached a maximum in 2000, when Americans gave 19% more to the government than they spent on these items.

But, this makes it official that President Obama has finally held true on one of his campaign promises - Hope & Change.  Yes, you "hope" you will have some "change" left after President Obama gets his hand out of your pocket so he can pay for others.