The People's Ledger Tax the top · fund the people

What could we build if the top paid more?

Set the taxes on corporations, the ultra-wealthy, and billionaires, choose the programs you care about, and watch how far the money goes. Every figure is drawn from published estimates — sources are listed at the bottom.

Total new revenue raised
$0
per year, from your selected taxes
How far it goes
Tax revenue $0 + defense freed $0 = available $0
0%of chosen
programs
0 fully funded
0 partly funded
0 unfunded
Total cost of chosen programs $0 Shortfall $0
The big picture · US federal budget, FY2024

Your plan puts $0 on the table — ≈ 0% of current federal revenue.

Where federal money comes from now ≈ $4.9T/yr

  • Individual income tax ~$2.66T · 50%
  • Payroll (Social Security & Medicare) ~$1.77T · 35%
  • Corporate income tax ~$0.53T · 11%
  • Other (excise, tariffs, estate) ~$0.3T · 4%

Taxes on people (income + payroll) already fund ~85% of the government; corporations cover just ~11% — the question this tool asks is whether the top could carry more.

Where it goes

~$6.8Ttotal spending
~$1.8Tannual deficit
~$0.85Tdefense · ~½ of discretionary

This tool changes only a slice of that picture: new taxes on corporations and the wealthy, and how much defense spending to redirect toward the programs below.

01

Set the taxes

Adjust the rates below. Contributions update live. Tap the i on any lever to see the reasoning and current law behind it.

Reset rates to:
02

Redirect spending

Cutting the defense budget frees money that flows into the same pool that funds the programs below — so you can weigh the Pentagon against public programs.

🕊️ Defense budget

$0

≈ $850B/yr today. Whatever you cut becomes available to fund programs.

03

Fund the programs, in priority order

Money flows top to bottom. Each program is filled in full before the next one gets a dollar. Reorder to change what gets funded first.

Use ▲ ▼ to reprioritize · ✕ to remove
Costs:
04

Program library

Click a program to add it to (or remove it from) your plan above. Filter by category.

Assumptions & sources

This is an educational simulation, not a budget forecast. Real-world revenue depends on behavioral responses, avoidance, and legal design; program costs vary widely across studies. Each number below uses a defensible midpoint from published research so you can weigh the trade-offs. Medicare for All is shown as its gross new federal cost — most analyses find it largely replaces existing private spending and can produce net national savings.