It has been five days since submitting that debilitating check to the IRS.

What a conundrum. You have to make money to live and then you have to give away a sizable portion to the U.S. government.

Usually when I pat my bills or donate money, I know exactly where or to whom it is going.

I was curious as to where my money was headed.

Did you know that the average taxpayer last year paid $12,000 in taxes and that the military received the largest share, equaling $3,174.85 ($81.50 to nuclear weapons) followed by health care?

Shockingly, of the total sum per person only $238 went to education programs.

Wow, the dumbing down of the youth of America. As most parents know firsthand, a large percentage of public schools are so inadequate that many who are passionate about education and can afford it, spend thousands of dollars per child to send them to private school.

Clearly, our government needs to do their homework. This is an unschooled approach to using our tax dollars wisely .

Basically, the government is placing more emphasis and importance on the military then education.

Can you believe that only $6.56 of the average individual tax payment went to the National Forest System? Get out there and hug a tree and branch out and donate to an environmental cause.

I pay a lot in taxes as does my twenty-something daughter, but Bank of America and Citigroup (for example) are paying zero federal income tax because the tax code is stacked with tax breaks.

As Warren Buffet pronounced in his now famous statement, many billionaires often pay lower tax rates than middle-class workers even though the tax code is progressive, meaning those who make more pay higher taxes…thank you deductions.

Do you think taxpayers will ever have a real voice in how our taxes are allocated?

If I can’t spend it on shoes and vacations, I sure would like to see more of my dollars going to education, the environment, finding a cure for cancer and while researchers are at it a cure for migraines and menopause.

We need to speak up and tell Congress to get the shit out of their ears and put our money where we want it so the American future is brighter, well educated and more productive.