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How my taxes are spent in the United States vs. New Zealand

by Jeffrey on June 8, 2008 · 10 Comments · in american-ism, jeffrey-ism, kiwi-ism, life, oblivious, rants

Rowan published a New Zealand tax statement of how the government might spend the tax collected from the average household income ($67,973 NZD).

Fascinating!1 After seeing this I wanted to know how New Zealand compared to the United States. For example, how would the same salary be taxed in Illinois and how would those taxes be spent?

Based on the United States federal budget of 20082 and the net pay calculator for the state of Illinois during the 2008 tax year, here’s the American tax statement:3

Taxable Income in Illinois $67,973.00  
USA Federal Tax Paid $18,017 26.51%4
Social Security 3,774 21.0%
D.O. Defense 2,988 16.6%
Medicare 2,396 13.3%
Unemployment/Welfare/Other mandatory spending 2,011 11.2%
Interest on National Debt 1,620 9.0%
Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) 1,297 7.2%
War on Terror 901 5.0%
Health & Human Services 430 2.4%
D.O. Education 347 1.9%
Other On-budget Discretionary Spending 321 1.8%
D.O. Veterans Affairs 244 1.4%
Other Off-budget Discretionary Spending 242 1.3%
D.O. Housing & Urban Development 218 1.2%
State and Other International Programs 217 1.2%
D.O. Homeland Security 212 1.2%
D.O. Energy 150 0.8%
D.O. Justice 125 0.7%
D.O. Agriculture 125 0.7%
National Aeronautics & Space Administration 107 0.6%
D.O. Transportation 75 0.4%
D.O. Treasury 75 0.4%
D.O. the Interior 65 0.4%
D.O. Labor 65 0.4%

Let’s compare any amount over $500 between America and New Zealand:

Taxable Income $67,973.00  
USA Federal Tax Paid $18,017 26.51%4
Social Security 3,774 21.0%
D.O. Defense 2,988 16.6%
Medicare 2,396 13.3%
Unemployment/Welfare/Other mandatory spending 2,011 11.2%
Interest on National Debt 1,620 9.0%
Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) 1,297 7.2%
War on Terror 901 5.0%
New Zealand Tax Paid $17,779 26.16%
Ministry of Transport 4,393 24.7%
Ministry of Social Development 3,414 19.2%
Ministry of Health 2,317 13.0%
Ministry of Education 2,040 11.4%
Inland Revenue Department (IRD) 1,331 7.4%
The Treasury 1,238 6.9%
New Zealand Defence Force 499 2.8%

So what sticks out? America: social security, defense, unemployment, debt and war. New Zealand: transport, social development, health, education and defense.

That’s a cynical and dangerous look at the tax breakdowns, but even so, the War on Terror would proportionately receive almost twice as much tax as the Ministry of Defence.5

And what’s that? Interest on National Debt?

Is New Zealand even in debt?

Surprisingly, I would pay more tax in Illinois than in New Zealand (over $2,000 more). And Americans don’t even have the same benefits as Kiwis, like public health care or financial support for accidental injuries. Plus, I don’t need to file a tax return in New Zealand (which is a service I would pay for, and apparently do). Why does the IRD receive so much money?

Which makes me wonder, if you could allocate your tax dollars to specific departments, would you? For example if you don’t want to finance “proactive war,” would you give that money to your favorite department, like the National Aeronautics & Space Administration?6

Decades ago this wouldn’t have been possible (logistical nightmare) but this type of government seems feasible today.

Although, it scares me to think about the nutters who would give their tax to the Department of Defense.

But it could be a way to clearly see where the people want their money spent.

1. This year I started tracking my personal finances. I concluded after two months I am an alcoholic, and if I didn’t drink my wages I would be a millionaire.
2. The budgets from 1996 to 2009 are available online. View the budgets here.
3. The calculated proportions of the budget does not distinguish between income tax, payroll taxes, corporate tax, excise tax, customs, estate and gift taxes. It’s all lumped together, so the figures are at best estimates of how the government spends income tax.
4. Illinois state tax is an additional 3 percent, totalling $2039.16. This brings the total taxed to 29.51%.
5. Spelling defense with a “c,” blasphemy!
6. I did go to space camp, after all.

Form design for designers and developers

by Jeffrey on June 5, 2008 · 2 Comments · in american-ism, jeffrey-ism, jinxed, oblivious

Last Wednesday I gave a presentation to the .NET user group. The presentation was about form design and it was based on research by Luke Wroblewski and Matteo Penzo

Designers (sometimes me) are different than developers (almost everyone at the presentation).1

For example, before the presentation began, Kirk had an announcement:

“After the presentation we’ll give out a keyboard as a prize, so stick around,” Kirk said.

I said, “A keyboard? Excellent! Is anyone in the audience musical? Can anyone play a song?”

…

“No, it’s not that type of keyboard,” Kirk said. “It’s a Microsoft keyboard.”

…

I was the only person in the room who thought it was a musical keyboard.

The presentation went well, and it was fun to meet new people in the IT community. If you went to the presentation, thanks for coming!

Update: the presentation has been posted to Slideshare.

1. Although the title of the presentation made some girls bite the bait! Design can do that.

A pox on you, banking devil!

by Jeffrey on March 21, 2007 · 11 Comments · in american-ism, oblivious

When I order coffee I choose a short or long black, which is coffee with a dash of water, and Andy (my coffee buddy) enjoys a doppio cappucino, which is a foamy liquid with chocolate sprinkles. This morning I stopped at my Westpac ATM to withdrawal money to feed my coffee addiction. I put my card into the machine, chose twenty bucks, and took my card out. Now, some people say the purpose of an ATM is to withdrawal money. Oh no, not in my world!