Lawmakers, White House move forward to provide a receipt to taxpayers

A similar bipartisan bill was introduced in the Senate in March by Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and Scott Brown (R-Mass.).  

“Every time you make a major purchase, you get a receipt; the same should be true of tax dollars,” Cooper said.

In September, David Kendall, a senior fellow for health and fiscal policy at Third Way, and Jim Kessler, vice president of policy at Third Way, wrote a paper expressing support for the idea, saying the process would be fairly easy and inexpensive. 

They argue that providing a tax receipt is similar to the information sent out each year by Social Security Administration showing what people can expect from the program in the future. 

“This would be far easier,” said Kendall and Kessler. “It could also be done online. An IRS website should be available so people could key in the amount they pay in taxes and a receipt pops up showing several dozen recognizable programs and the amount that went to each of them.”

For example, the amount of money spent on Pell Grants in fiscal year 2009 was $19.38 billion, which is divided by total federal spending of $3.518 trillion. This means 0.55 percent of all federal spending went to Pell Grants. Multiply this number by the amount a taxpayer paid in taxes, and that determines a taxpayer’s contribution.

“A tax receipt will clear up many misconceptions, and it will allow individual taxpayers the chance to better understand how their tax dollars are being spent so they can hold their elected officials accountable,” said Schock. “Individuals and families review their own budgets all the time. Since taxes are one of the biggest expenses, people deserve the right to know how every dollar is being used.”