[javert]

Both of those things are definitely untrue.

When I lived in the US, the vast majority of my taxes went to the federal government and didn't come back in local benefits like schools and roads.

(Sure, federal money comes back to universities in the form of research grants which pay for foreign PhD students to work in bullshit paper mills. I've seen that firsthand. The wastage of federal money is near 100%.)

Separately, I've known lots of rich people. Of course, they are just like other people. They are not all greedy sociopaths. Grow up.

[alistairSH]

~$60 billion/year of federal funds goes to transportation. ~$1,000 billion/year goes to health care. ~100 billion/year goes to education.

The money we pay in federal taxes (whether it be income or other taxes) doesn't just vanish into the ether, it comes back via various government programs.

[javert]

Yet our transportation infrastructure is decaying; our healthcare is among the worst in the world--the governments pays AND we pay out of pocket AND it still sucks; and our education sucks.