Hi. I'm Jess Bachman. Every year I spend two months researching and creating this visual record of our tax dollars at work.

Please consider supporting this project by purchasing a poster. Thanks!
Poster is a 24''x36'' offset on thick #100 glossy cover stock.


 

So what is this thing?

"Death and Taxes" is a large representational graph and poster of the federal budget. It contains over 500 programs and departments and almost every program that receives over 200 million dollars annually. The data is straight from the president's 2011 budget request and will be debated, amended, and approved by Congress to begin the fiscal year. All of the item circles are proportional in size to their funding levels for visual comparison and the percentage change from both 2010 and 2001 is included so you can spot trends.

Ok, so what is it REALLY?

"Death and Taxes" is more than just numbers. It is a uniquely revealing look at our national priorities, that fluctuate yearly, according to the wishes of the President, the power of Congress, and the will of the people. Thousands of pages of raw data have been boiled down to one poster that provides the most open and accessible record of our nations' spending you will ever find. If you pay taxes, then you have paid for a small part of everything in the poster. "Death and Taxes" is an essential poster for any responsible citizen or information junkie.

  

FAQ

Why do you focus on the discretionary budget?

The discretionary budget funds all cabinet level departments and what is referred to most often when people think of the 'federal government.' It is the single largest part of the budget at one trillion dollars or roughly one third of pot. It is also the portion of the budget that Congress can easily push numbers around year to year which makes it a great tool for tracking our real national priorities. The total budget is depicted (not to scale) in the bottom right corner of the Death and Taxes poster.

Entitlement spending is also not included in detail for practical reasons. Social Security and Medicare cannot be broken down into small programs as other governmental departments can. The bulk of the funds are small payments to millions of people which cannot be graphed in the same manner as the rest of the poster. If entitlement spending were included to scale with the discretionary budget the overall detail of the poster would have to be decreased dramatically if the 24"x36" size were to me maintained.

What do you consider military or national security spending?

While many people think the military is confined to the Department of Defense, that is not the case. The Department of Defense has budgeted $552 billion, but that does not include the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funding, which is listed as $160 billion. TheWhitehouse also lists the following as security funding. Department of Energy - $11.2 billion (this is mostly related to nuclear weapons), Homeland Security - $43.6 billion, Veterans Affairs - $57 billion, State Department - $58.5 billion. There are other various pockets of military and security related funding in other civilian departments as well. It all adds up to $895 billion.

How come some numbers differ from last years poster?

The poster is of the President's February budget request. While the President may terminate a program, Congress may continue funding for it, and unless the President veto's the congressional resolution, funding will continue for the 2010 terminated program. These numbers are constantly in flux and are revised mid year.

Is the data accurate?

Yes. The figures used to create the graph come directly from the President's official budget request and the comptroller of the Department of Defense. The Intelligence budget figures are estimates from globalsecurity.org.

  

I'm Jess Bachman, a 29 year old freelance graphic designer. I specialize in infographics and viral content. If you use the internet, you have seen my work. You can contact me at Jess(at)WallStats.com

Also,

WallStats.com - Facebook.com - LinkedIn - Twitter

 

Death & Taxes is on Facebook.
Spread the word. This is some finger
lickin' data that people need to know.

Please use any of the resources below.






Featured at:
Boingboing - Neatorama - Gizmodo - VisualComplexity - Fast Company - New York Times - GetRischSlowly - CoolInfographics - FlowingData - And just about everywhere else on the net - oh and Martha Stewart

  

Are you a teacher or educator? This poster has been subsidized for classroom use and will only cost you $5, which includes shipping. Please make sure your shipping address is an school or educational institution, otherwise your order will be refunded. Please do not take advantage of this offer unless you are an educator and would like to use the poster in the classroom. There are limited quantities. Click here to order
View Cart

  

  "Talk about representing something extremely complex that perhaps very few people in the US government have a handle on. Well here it is. Laid out, easy to read and compare. With data straight from the White House"   Avinash Kaushik, Occam's Razor
  "You would be hard pressed to find a more complex budget. The visualization conveys a tremendous amount of information in a small space, well 24x36"   simplecomplexity.net
  "Great poster! I just got two of them, one for work and one for home."   Maureen Madden, Mission Director,
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
  "A stupendous graph. I've always been a fan of clever design imparting huge amounts of information in a graphical display."   npr.org
  "I work in the [classified], and I must say that's quite a piece of work you've created. Working in [classified] requires a lot of graphical interpretation of the budget, and this is one of the most effective tools I've seen. I wish I had thought of it."   Source requested anonymity
  "I love your work. As a supply officer in Afghanistan, I put up a copy of Death and Taxes in my shop, and guys would stand there and stare at it for thirty minutes at a time. It was great to be able to show people where their paychecks came from, show them how little the Marine Corps got relative to the other services, and to show the actual impact of deficitspending (especially due to GWOT spending)."   Capt Christian Palmer, USMC
  "Hey, really like the poster--we'll have a copy at the office and at home. These are great for stopping those left/right wing rants I have to endure about foreign-aide-welfare-rich-pay-no-taxes-insert-your-mouth-foaming-rant-here. While money may or may not make the world go round, it sure gives an objective picture of just where our nation's resources are being spent. Keep up the good work."   Eric Dent
  "Your poster is extra cool. But you probably hear that a lot. I have shown it to my graphic design students as a great example of information design"   Chris Ramsay,
The Cleveland Institure of Art
  "I finally got my copy of your graph in the mail. From one graph designer to another, great work! I will put it beside my copy of Edward Tufte's "Napoleon's March" -- another great work in data organization."   Vaughn D. Taylor,
LiberalRevolt.com
  "I have your chart hanging in my office - I work for the Dept. of Defense, and I enjoy reminding my fellow civil servants of the trust and confidence placed in us by the taxpayer, as evidenced by the sheer magnitude of dollars they send us. For me, it's a helpful reminder of how lucky I am to work here and that I'd better accomplish something meaningful with these resources."   Kevin Marlowe,
Director, Strategic Plans and Policy USJFCOM Joint Systems Integration Command
  "Your "Federal Government Budget Poster" is perhaps the single best display I have seen of where and how our tax dollars are spent. A wonderful graphic that makes it easy to see the relative budgeted dollars for each agency, bureau and organizational unit in the government. Terrific job of sorting out a complicated subject."   Ron Cote
Vice President, SiloSmashers
  "We have it up in the lobby of 5 Sylvan Learning Centers. Everyone who studies it is captivated. We point out that everything is proportional, and like to point to the Department of Education. Our clients are amazed, and often horrified, to see how Congress sees education relative to, say, the "War of Terror". You know, I hear government expenditures referred to all the time on the news, and sometimes they even say "this contrasts to the Department of Defense's budget of ....", but NEVER in the context of the whole budget. It's quite the learning experience to see it all in one place!"   Lee Pierce, Sylvan Learning Center
  "Everyone is enamored with your budget graph! My students really liked seeing the "big picture" and some students commented that they were "visual people" and it improved their understanding of the federal budget. It is quite a conversation piece! Great idea!"   George M. Yacus, Ph.D.
  "The poster has gotten great responses from our clients, at our events and from visitors to our office. I haven't been able to distribute them to everyone that asked for fear of running out. I'm down to only six posters. We are definitely interested in increasing our order this year to 200."   Hope A. Lane Officer Aronson & Company
  "If you want a daily reminder of where all the tax money that doesn't go into your paycheck actually goes, then put this stunning new poster up on your wall. You may be relieved just to see what a magnificent display the people at WallStats.com can make materialize out of those dollars that seem to disappear so abstractly from your paycheck."   OpenCongress.org
  "I have to tell you, I am a senior government official and this is the best illustration of the budget and the budget situation - by far. And I have used it repeatedly in educating folks about the increased need for accountability. Well done! ."   Bob MacDonald, Director, Office of Planning and Accountability, National Institute of Food and Agriculture