It's tax time

And because taxes tend to get people all crazy, it's always good to inject a little reality into the conversation.

First, Paul Krugman has a recent post which compares the tax burden in the United States to a number of other countries. He also charts the dramatic drop in tax rates for the wealthiest Americans.

And the White House has released an interactive "tax receipt" application. You enter the amount of income tax you paid for 2010, and it itemizes exactly where your tax dollars went. The next time you're talking to someone who thinks that foreign aid or NPR or education spending is what's behind America's deficits, you'll know exactly where to send them.

Here's a sample "receipt" for a married couple with $80,000 in income and two children (click on it for a larger image):