How much did the federal government collect in individual income taxes in fiscal year 2011? How much did it spend on health care programs or on defense? To provide ready answers to those questions, CBO has prepared three infographics examining the following components of the federal budget:

The federal government spent $3.6 trillion in fiscal year 2011 (which ended on September 30, 2011). Mandatory spending totaled about $2.0 trillion, or 56 percent of all federal outlays. That category includes spending for entitlement programs and certain other payments to people, businesses, nonprofit institutions, and state and local governments. For the most part, those programs are governed by statutory rules that specify eligibility criteria and benefit amounts. The infographic below provides a closer look at spending on mandatory programs in 2011.

The federal government spent $3.6 trillion in fiscal year 2011 (which ended on September 30, 2011). Discretionary spending, which is governed by annual appropriation acts, totaled about $1.3 trillion, or 37 percent of all federal outlays. The infographic below provides a closer look at spending on discretionary programs in 2011.

The federal government took in $2.3 trillion in revenues in fiscal year 2011 (which ended on September 30, 2011), about $1.3 trillion less than it spent. Most of those revenues come from individual income taxes and the payroll taxes that support Social Security and Medicare's Hospital Insurance program. The infographic below provides a closer look at the federal government's
revenues in 2011.