How much is $4.8 trillion? It’s an unfathomable number and one I have yet to see well described at a magnitude less. It exceeds our senses. It exceeds scope. And yet, it is the dollar amount our federal government collected in taxes in the 2023 fiscal year. Call it a forced donation — or to some commentators, an unconstitutional ransom.

Yet the headline of 12 zeros should be the least of note about the IRS’ income. Instead, it should be about the impact every dollar has, because all too often, we ignore the science of our small but meaningful contributions. What we pay every April is a celebration of democracy, our small part in oiling the money-hungry but much-needed machine of keeping our communities alive. What’s not to celebrate?  

For most Americans, tax season is less of a celebration and more of a punishment, one that revels in inequity instead of fighting against it. Who wants to be forced to give up their hard-earned dollars just so they can subsidize the wealthy shareholders of the Intel Corporation or ever-villainous Amazon? It seems plainly unfair, as if it is a system designed to punish low-income families from succeeding against the ever-daunting chasm between themselves and the wealthy. For a tax system that promises to be progressive, it is ironic that much of our money goes towards shoring up corporate farmers instead of fighting against them. 

But that does not mean taxes do not really help those who need them; to be frank, they help all of us. Sixty-five percent of federal spending goes towards many universal and critical welfare programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, those being lifesaving programs that secure the health and futures of tens of millions of Americans. In other words, these programs are a lifeline to the nation’s most vulnerable, and by a guarantee of the taxes on our paychecks, eventually to our future selves. Where we spend the other 35% is up for healthy debate, but for the sake of achieving a more equal nation, our money is often well-intended. 

However, some commentators may question the efficacy of the tax state, but for every supposedly “more economically efficient” donation by the likes of Bill Gates towards world hunger also comes the arguably less admirable billion-dollar donation to a medical university.  Tell me, is that money most effectively spent on the future elite instead of the truly destitute?

What differentiates the tax state from your run-of-the-mill Bill Gates or MacKenzie Scott is not money, resources, or the pedestal of “effective altruism,” but the sheer amount of data the modern hegemony collects. It does not take a conspiracist (but perhaps a Snowden leak) to realize that the modern state, extending from their budgets to their militaries, and increasingly their police, is made from invaluable troves of data that can tell nearly limitless stories, including statistics about who truly needs our tax dollars. Within minutes, I can access bounties of up-to-date statistics ranging from the mundane inflation records to the granular economic situation of Louisville, Ky. I cannot imagine what the IRS can access. To a policymaker, these statistics are the lifeblood of decision-making. Then what is this data to us, the average citizens?

For me, it is the data that allowed me to go to college. Without the federal government’s knowledge of my family’s economic situation or my mother’s disability, we would not have been able to afford our house, our cars, and especially the ever-growing cost of attending Washington University. As our school becomes more socioeconomically diverse and more of my Pell-granted siblings are given the opportunity to walk through the iconic gates of Brookings Hall, you best know that my future self will be saluting the flag as I submit my tax return this April 15. The future students of WashU deserve it.