More than $5 trillion in US taxes: Who gets it?
The Take
Al Jazeera
4.7 • 747 Ratings
🗓️ 15 April 2026
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On Tax Day, trillions flow into the United States government. But new analysis shows a significant share is directed toward war, defense contractors, and border enforcement, while healthcare and food assistance face mounting pressures and cuts. As deficits grow and everyday costs rise, what do these budget choices reveal about who the system is built to serve, both in the US and beyond?
In this episode:
- Lindsay Koshgarian (@lindsaykosh), Program Director, National Priorities Project
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Marcos Bartolomé and David Enders with Tamara Khandaker, Catherine Nouhan, Tuleen Barakat, Adhil Veetil, Firas Yateem, Michel Bou Dagher, and our guest host, Kevin Hirten. It was edited by Sarí el-Khalili.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Al Jazeera Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | Today, Americans are set to file their taxes. |
| 0:15.0 | While we're paying over $4,000 as the average taxpayer for war and weapons. By contrast to average taxpayer only paid |
| 0:22.8 | about $2,500 for Medicaid. So when trillions of dollars are set to fill the coffers of the |
| 0:31.0 | world's largest federal budget, how does that affect the entire world? |
| 0:40.1 | I'm Kevin Horton, and this is the take. |
| 0:52.6 | Before we continue with today's show, remember to leave us a comment. Tell us what you think about this topic. What do you make of the moral case for taxes in the United States? What do you think about the priorities of the United States federal government and how it affects the rest of the world? And remember, to give us a five-star review on your favorite podcast app, it really does help the show. |
| 1:10.9 | My name is Lindsay Coshgarian. |
| 1:12.8 | I am the program director at the National Priorities Project of the Institute for Policy Studies. |
| 1:18.3 | And I am based in Northampton, Massachusetts. |
| 1:22.0 | Okay, Lindsay, it's great to have you back on the take. |
| 1:25.5 | So we are having this conversation on Tuesday, April 14th. |
| 1:29.1 | That's the eve of what is known in the U.S. as Tax Day. |
| 1:33.7 | This is the annual deadline for people in the United States to submit their individual income taxes to the federal government. |
| 1:40.8 | Now, our listeners might be asking, why are we covering this U.S. tax day? |
| 1:45.9 | This is an international show, but the reason is simple. |
| 1:49.0 | It's because we're talking about an absolutely huge sum of money here, and where that money is spent has global repercussions. |
| 1:56.6 | So let's just start with some baseline numbers. |
| 1:59.5 | For the fiscal year of 2025, the federal government collected $5.26 trillion. About half of that, $2.6 trillion comes from individual income taxes. So in broad strokes, where does all that money go? How is that pie divided? |
| 2:18.7 | Well, one of the reasons that we look at Americans' tax receipt every year is because of where |
| 2:24.9 | the money goes and that money affecting the rest of the world, specifically through the U.S. |
| 2:30.8 | military budget, which is the number one military budget in the world. It's the |
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