How the US spends 26% of available tax revenue just to pay interest

“In the Land of the Free, the government routinely doesn’t count interest payments that they make to the Social Security Trust Fund. Taking this into account, total US interest payments in Fiscal Year 2013 were a whopping $415 billion, roughly 17% of total tax revenue. Here’s the thing, though– it’s inappropriate to look at total tax revenue when we’re talking about making interest payments. The IRS collected $2.49 trillion in taxes last year (net of refunds). But of this amount, $891 billion was from payroll tax. According to FICA and the Social Security Act of 1935, however, this amount is tied directly to funding Social Security and Medicare. It is not to be used for interest payments.”

http://www.sovereignman.com/finance/us-now-spending-26-of-available-tax-revenue-just-to-pay-interest-14024/