Last week, I paid about $120 in Federal Income tax, not much different from the average American. I also paid about $20 into Medicare, $90 into Social Security, and other money into state taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, and other fees. While I love to have this money available for other things, it is money well spent.

To me, Medicare and Social Security are really money put into a group retirement account for me, and for everyone when we retire. We can argue about the structure of these systems but the underlying idea of making sure that our elderly are cared for is crucial to who we are. I am paying to make sure my father, other older relatives, and even those who have no relatives are cared for.

Between mandatory and discretionary spending, tax revenue and other forms of revenue, it is hard to know exactly where those $120 are going but I figure about $30 of my taxes each week goes to our national defense. We can argue about whether or not the Iraq war or the war in Afghanistan was a good idea. We can question whether a new weapon is worth the cost. We should be raising these questions. At the same time, the son of a friend of mine is serving in Iraq. We need to make sure he gets paid properly and has appropriate equipment. Another dollar goes to meeting the needs of veterans. We need to make sure that our veterans are properly cared for.

About $11 goes to education. A lot more goes to education from my local property taxes. People who read my writings will know that I’m not a big fan of high stakes testing or some of the other things being done in education nationally. I believe we are testing the wrong thing and as a result often teaching the wrong thing. We should work to get this addressed, but we should also make sure that our education system is properly funded. I

About $8 goes to transportation. Since I drive an electric vehicle, I don’t pay a lot in gasoline taxes. As with all other things, we can, and should argue about the best way to spend those dollars. We need to keep our infrastructure in good shape. We need to expand our infrastructure in various ways. That eight dollars a week is an important investment.

About $4 to science and research. I would like to see us spending more on science and research, the basic fundamental research that is the basis for important breakthroughs in health and so many other areas.

You may have heard some people talk about avoiding paying taxes as being smart in business. I would question even that. We need to be investing in our future instead of thinking about short term gains at the expense of our children. More importantly, paying taxes is being patriotic, it is part of what we need to do to make America Great Again.

Are you doing your share? Are you voting for people who are doing their share?