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Show IIbpo Dogs Youp Tail r.loney Go? Would you hand over more than a third of your income without finding out what it was being spent for? Some people may be doing just that if they don't keep informed on government spending--federal and local-based on their tax dollars. FROM A quiz on taxes and spending compiled by Ralph Kinney Bennett in the April Reader's Digest come some staggering sums and frightening frigh-tening facts: Federal, state and local tax collectors put the bite on 37 cents out of every dollar of national income. GOVERNMENT spending (all levels) averages $7i3 per U.S. household-up I .'W0 percent per-cent since IM0 The national debt is now $.18 billion. Interest on this debt is the third largest item in the federal budget-right behind domestic assistance (Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, etc.) and defense. WHILE U.S. private economy has (lourished-our Gross National Product has grown 275 percent in the past twenty years- government spending is far outstripping it. Secretary of the Treasury William E. Simon says. "There has been close to a 40-percent growth in government govern-ment spending in the last two years alone." One out of six working Americans are employed by one level of government or another--but the number of federal employees has not increased substantially in the past twenty years What has increased is the federal pavroll: it has tripled since lyfiS. IF THESE statistics were not news to you. you are in a good position lo advise your legislators in Washington. But. concludes the article, if these facts are news to you. "you're a soft touch for those who want you to believe that you can have something for nothing." |