How does the federal government spend its money? Q.How does the federal government spend its money? A.Federal spending totaled $4.4 trillion in 2019. About 62 percent of the total was for programs not subject to regular budget review, while nearly 30 percent covered discretionary programs for which Congress must regularly appropriate funds. Eight percent went for interest on government debt (figure 1). Read more about How does the federal government spend its money?
What are tax expenditures and how are they structured? Q.What are tax expenditures and how are they structured? A.Tax expenditures are special provisions of the tax code such as exclusions, deductions, deferrals, credits, and tax rates that benefit specific activities or groups of taxpayers. Read more about What are tax expenditures and how are they structured?
How much spending is uncontrollable? Q.How much spending is uncontrollable? A.Technically, lawmakers can control all spending except the interest due on government debts. However, entitlement spending is sometimes said to be uncontrollable for political rather than legal reasons. It can always be controlled legally by reforming programs, but when an entitlement is extremely popular, reform may require more political courage than is readily available. Similar concerns apply to many tax expenditures—tax breaks that function much as spending programs. Read more about How much spending is uncontrollable?
