Taxes on wages make up the bulk of federal revenue every year. Where does that money go, and who decides how much you should pay?

The process is extremely complicated - and deeply political - which is why it's important for everyday taxpayers to understand how the people they elected choose to spend the money voters give out of their paychecks every year.

We talk with tax policy expert Beverly Moran, a Paulus fellow at Boston College Law School and professor emerita at Vanderbilt, about how budget reconciliation works: where Congress decides where it will cut taxes, and how it will make up for those cuts. We also talk about how those decisionsaffect the vast majority of taxpayers, who earn most of their wealth from salary or wages... and how it looks different for the wealthiest Americans. Find Beverly's research on the impact of the 2017 TCJA here.

Listen to our episodes on the history of the income tax in the United States, and how the tax return process works.

We used a number of sources in this episode. Here are some, in order of appearance:

How much revenue has the US government collected this year? from the US Treasury Department.

Reconciliation explainer from the Congressional Budget Office.

Budget Reconciliation: Tracking the 2025 Trump Tax Cuts from the Tax Foundation.

What are itemized deductions and who claims them? from the Tax Policy Center.

How did the TCJA change taxes of families with children? from the Tax Policy Center.

The 2017 Tax Law Was Skewed to the Rich, Expensive, and Failed to Deliver on Its Promises from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Lifting the SALT Cap: Estimated Budgetary Effects, 2024 and Beyond from Penn Wharton Budget Model at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business.

Differences between the traditional CPI and Chained CPI from the Congressional Budget Office.

Republicans say Medicaid cuts won't happen. But does their budget work without them? from NPR.

Republicans want to lower taxes. The hard part is choosing what to cut. from the New York Times.

The Politics Behind Your Taxes

Civics 101