This is your regular reminder that the money you pay in federal taxes isn’t used to pay for anything; it’s just deleted off the books to control inflation. Money used to pay for things is printed out of thin air by the Federal Reserve.
If I could make everyone understand just one thing, this would be the one thing.
Think about this when your “representatives” choose to not tax billionaires, and instead put the tax burden on you.
@violetmadder @OGjester this doesn't make any sense at all. it doesn't even make sense for them to do that. almost like it's completely unbelievable 
@crashglasshouses @violetmadder @OGjester welcome to American monetary policy. I’m not making any of this up. These are true things.
No joke. The only difference now is that the accounts are digital so they don't need to use actual fire.
Money is an IOU. Dollars function just like a coupon you'd redeem for 1 pizza-- the pizza shop hands you the coupon, promising to give you a pizza when you bring it back. You hand the coupon to the pizza shop, they hand you a pizza, and the coupon? Goes straight into the trash.
The "paid for with taxpayer money" thing is a shorthand assumption that's actually a pretty severe fallacy.
Taxes are used to offset inflation-- they function by canceling out money. Money collected in taxes is extinguished. It ceases to exist. It tips the balance on inflation by increasing the value of the money that remains in circulation.
Central banks have the power to create money from pure ether, whenever the hell the folks in charge please. That's why you never hear "but how will we afford it" in regard to the establishment's pet projects like military spending. Policy decrees where all the newly created money goes, and also decides exactly where all the tax money gets pulled back out for destruction.
@violetmadder @OGjester yeah, i've read this MMT shit before, it's a big hit with conspiracy theorists. 
Where do you think the taxes go, then? Where's the big savings account they get transferred to?
@violetmadder @crashglasshouses @OGjester
I have similar questions about the flow.
https://www.cbpp.org/research/policy-basics-where-do-our-federal-tax-dollars-go
Is this article correct?
@Acer @crashglasshouses @OGjester
The article's headline may say, "where do our tax dollars go", but note that it doesn't actually talk about where tax dollars actually go. It only talks about "the budget" and "spending", and keeping that budget "balanced".
There is no savings account where tax dollars get deposited or stored.