US Percentage of Tax Expenditures 

Currently, most US tax dollars go to defense and international security assistance, social security and medicare, medicaid subsidies. While other developed countries have evenly distributed the majority of their tax expenditures towards various areas that require tax dollars. For instance in, in the UK more of the tax dollars are allocated for a government sponsored retirement plan. Further, in the Netherlands almost half of the countries tax expenditures are allocated towards business incentives to drive the countries accompany. Inversely, in Germany more than half of the countries taxes are utilized for government sponsored housing initiatives. A balance must struck with tax policy in a country to determine the expenditures that are necessary and those that are creating a greater detriment to the country. There are substantial benefits to a government funded health care initiative and tax dollars should be allocated to this. However, other interests such as business incentives, housing or retirement should also be considered in developing tax policy. Please see the following OECD Publishing article comparing international tax expenditures: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/746827562747

Source: http://www.cbpp.org/research/policy-basics-where-do-our-federal-tax-dollars-go