Where do your taxes go?

According to Donald Trump, it is not fair that Spain spends so little on defence. In 2024, we were at around 20 billion euros, around 1.3% of GDP. However, according to NATO commitments, we must reach 2% in 2029, that is, up to 36.5 billion euros. Considering the money spent on weapons, are we really aware of how much the government spends our taxes?

The total state budget is around 600 billion euros. Of this, more than half is allocated to social protection and promotion, where, for example, pensions represent around 200 billion (34%) and unemployment and other benefits receive 44 billion euros, 7.5% of the total. These items are followed by public debt. Every year, we allocate 30 billion euros (5%) to repay the debt and pay the corresponding interest. Did you know that according to the Constitution, the first thing the State must pay is the interest on the debt, above all other public expenditure?

Now you may think that it is the turn of health and education, pillars of the welfare state. But no, there are other major expenses before that, such as defence (2%), general state services (1.6%) or energy (1.5%). In fact, in the contribution that comes from the State and without counting that of the autonomous communities, health only represents 1.1% of the total, and education, 0.8%.

However, taxes are not enough to pay for everything. In 2023, Spain had a deficit of -3.5%, meaning that there are 52 billion euros left to cover in the budget, which can only come from two sources: either from debt or from cuts. Every second that passes, public debt increases by about 2,500 euros, or what is the same: 200 million euros a day, with the corresponding interest, which is getting bigger and bigger as the liabilities get bigger. If we have to increase the debt and defence budget, what will we have left for health and education?