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The Weirdest Things Your Taxes Pay For

by Bruce Watson Dec 17th 2012 12:08PM
Research scientists prepare a pizza for a mission to Mars. (Michael Stravato, AP)

For fiscal hawks looking into ways to humiliate the government, there's never a lack of examples to show Washington's wastefulness. In October, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) released Wastebook 2012, a look at over $18 billion in projects that are bizarre, and often hard to justify.

Admittedly, $18 billion is just a drop in the vast sea of federal expenditures. For example, it's just over 2% of the defense budget, or 9% of the yearly cost of the Bush tax cuts. Still, it's hard to ignore over $1 million dollars spent on video game development or the hundreds of thousands put into creating a robotic rodent. If you're looking for a quick laugh -- or a little bit of righteous outrage -- take a peek at our gallery of weird government expenditures.

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rheld6534

Taxing the $ 1,000,000 and over a little bit more would not hurt anyone, get all these individual, sit down and come up witha fair tax for them and YOU WILL REALLY BE SURPRISED!!!!

December 24 2012 at 8:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
elendil3136

While acknowleging that some of the items on this list are simply corporate welfare, several are rooted in serious scientific investigation.

December 17 2012 at 6:32 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply