Intro to MyGovSpending.com

MyGovSpending spotlights:

how much government taxes your family
where government spends your money
how much government is likely to borrow in your name this year, and
your family's share of all government borrowing outstanding

MyGovSpending is an easy tool to re-arrange government finances as you prefer:

increase or decrease your taxes
spend your tax money on your public priorities
set the deficit where you want it...or gosh, get crazy and eliminate it
...or even pay down the government debt. You can do it -no joke.

MyGovSpending amplifies your voice with these great tools:

Dispatch your government budget straight to your federal elected officials
Record your Advised Budget in the VoiceBox (see below)
Post your budgets to the Shared Budgets section for other leading citizens to see.
Learn what is on other taxpayers' minds in the Forum
Make comments for other citizens to see in the Forum

SITE SERVICES	Available To All Visitors	Available With Free Registration	Available With 2-year, $24.95 Subscription
GOV'S GEARBOX - articles on gov's use of your money
Design a BEGINNER'S BUDGET - EZ steps to the gov budget you want
Design an INTERMEDIATE BUDGET
Design an ADVANCED BUDGET - add detail
DISPATCH, SINGLES - send your budget to Washington		/$2.95
DISPATCH, PACKAGE of 10
READ FORUMS - read thoughts of other cutting edge citizens
WRITE FORUMS - join the discussion
VIEW SHARED BUDGETS - see other users' budgets
SAVE BUDGETS - store your budgets for later
MULTIPLE BUDGETS - keep a collection of budgets
Set an ADVISED BUDGET & POST TO VOICE BOX
ADOPT OTHERS' SHARED BUDGETS
SHARE YOUR BUDGETS

COMPARE BEGINNER, INTERMEDIATE AND ADVANCED BUDGETS

	Beginner Budget	Intermediate Budget	Advanced Budget
See an economist's customized estimate of all the taxes you pay: federal, state and local. It goes well beyond your tax return.
See an estimate of your share of government deficit - this year's new government borrowing
See an estimate of your share of the government debt - the total amount government owes including past years' borrowing
Compare government spending to your family's private financial priorities
Raise or lower your taxes (and all other taxpayers, too)
Change where government collects taxes from you among its 20 major groups of taxes
Add a new tax
Add up to five new taxes
Add a new "instead of Gov" program (required by goverment but funded and administered by you)
Add up to five new "instead of Gov" program (required by goverment but funded and administered by you)
Choose which level of government should collect each type of tax from you 1) Federal or 2) State & local
See how taxes vary among different income groups
Change how taxes vary among different income groups
Raise or lower your share of government's deficit
Raise or lower your share of government spending (by changing taxes and the deficit)
Change the amounts you spend on government's biggest three programs 1) Senior Subsidies, 2) Education, 3) Defense
Change the amounts you spend on each of govermnet's 30 major groups of programs
Add a new spending program
Add up to five new spending programs
Choose which level of government should spend your money on programs: 1) Federal or 2) State & local governments
Available to all visitors
Available to Registered Users - Free
Available to paid Subscribers

GOV'S GEARBOX	is a series of articles on government finances. Taxpayer money powers government. That taxpayer power is concentrated or dissipated as govenment turns its wheels. Sometimes it gains traction, sometimes it just digs deeper holes. We lay it out.
BEGINNER"S BUDGET	is an easy tool for you to use to quickly design a budget for federal, state and local governments together.
INTERMEDIATE BUDGET	This is an excellent budgeting tool if you want more control than the Beginners Budget. Available to registered users at no charge.
ADVANCED BUDGET	The best budget tool, available to paid subscribers. A two-year subscription is only $24.95 and includes 10 DISPATCHES.
ADVISED BUDGET	You can designate any of your completed budgets as your ADVISED BUDGET. This is the budget you advise your government to adopt. Your elected representatives will receive your ADVISED BUDGET, should you choose to DISPATCH it to them. Your Advised Budget is also automatically posted to the VoiceBox. If you designate a second budget as your ADVISED BUDGET, it supercedes the first. The first is still saved until you delete it, however it no longer is your ADVISED BUDGET.
VOICEBOX	The VOICEBOX magnifies your voice by combining it with others. All users' ADVISED BUDGETs are automatically posted to the VOICEBOX. These valuable opinions can be analyzed and reported to interested parties. Using VOICEBOX data, elected representatives can be more responsive to their constituencies. And you can apply more pressure to your elected representatives using VOICEBOX. For instance, if an elected representative is interested the level of taxes MyGovSpending users in her district think best, such data can be made available.

DISPATCHES	Once you have a budget you prefer, send it to your five federal elected representatives in Washington: the President, the Vice President, your two Senators, and your member of the House of Representatives. We DISPATCH them instantly by fax or email. We email a copy to you, too. Single dispatches are available for registered users at $2.95 per set. Each DISPATCH include one copy to each of your five federal elected representatives. The world keeps turning and smart people never stop learning. Changing your budget as new information arises and as you develop new insights is healthy evolution. If you've modified your budget - DISPATCH it again. A package of 10 Dispatches is included with a two year subscription available for $24.95.
FORUMS	Visit the forum and read what other leading citizens think about budget issues. Register and post entries, too.
SHARED BUDGETS	If you have a budget you would like to share with others, post it in the Shared Budgets section. Your fellow citizen policy-makers can review it. You can inspect budgets that others have posted, too. Once registered, you can copy a Shared Budget and modify it to fit your preference. If you wish, you can repost the shared budget under a new name.