COLUMBUS – Central Ohioans, like millions of other Americans, spent the weekend crunching numbers on their tax returns ahead of Monday’s filing deadline.
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But do they know exactly what they’re getting for their dollars?
Ohioans on average paid $9,533 in federal income taxes, below the national average of $13,000, according to the National Priorities Project.
Out of each dollar, 28 cents goes toward health care and over 25 cents went to the Pentagon, research director Lindsay Koshgarian said, but less than four cents went to education.
It’s the first time the analysis has shown that health care spending outstripped military spending.
Koshgarian explains that’s because the costs of health care keep rising, which she blames on the government’s inability to negotiate drug prices through Medicaid and an expansion in Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
“A lot more people are now receiving Medicaid. And right now this tab is being picked up by the federal government and we’re seeing that in our tax dollar,” she said.
Income taxes are the biggest source of federal revenue, which Koshgarian says essentially means taxpayers pay the federal government’s bills.
While 25 cents of every dollar is spent on the military, Koshgarian says the organization’s report shows only six cents of that goes to service members in the form of pay and benefits.