What does the federal budget say about our priorities?

A gilded ballroom at the White House may cost taxpayers a billion dollars because Congress is proposing to add this amount to the millions already promised from private donors. Millions of dollars taken from the budget of the Forest Service are going toward painting the reflecting pool in Washington DC instead of hiring and training forest fire fighters. Not to mention the billions going toward the war in Iran. If a budget demonstrates values and priorities, then what does the federal budget say about us? Her Turn reporter Arlene Zaucha recently spoke with Lindsay Koshgarian, director of The National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies. Their recently released report issued a “tax receipt” to show what the average taxpayer paid in 2025 for various items in the federal budget. For more information about the group, or to see your tax receipt, you can check out their website Graphic courtesy of Lindsay Koshgarian