Interactive examples

USA Today tracks US federal taxes in customizable graphic

This post is also available in Spanish

Last week, USA Today launched “Tracking taxes: A look back at tax rates and spending.” Although it doesn’t cover state or local taxes, this tool enables Americans to get a quick snapshot of how their federal taxes are being spent, and how that has changed over time. The user interface is clear, inviting, and customizable. Although several assumptions were made to calculate the figures, I still enjoyed the interactive and I encourage you to spend some time with it.

Since I am a student and unfortunately do not have a salary, I played the role of a movie star and entered my salary as $1,000,000. If I was a millionaire, according to their calculations I would have to pay $345,550 in taxes!

Scroll over the different years after checking the “Show how this tax bill was calculated” box. Showing the math behind the calculation was a nice addition and helps build credibility and transparency. They also used the space wisely, such as having certain components stack on top of one another depending on the user interaction.

I’m not sure I agree that they should have assumed it was a “single filer,” though. I would be interested to know if they do any user analysis to determine the age range of their users. If a majority of their users are in their 20s, then it would make since to make this assumption. However, if they are 30s, 40s, and older, it probably would have served their audience better had they programmed the calculator for a joint filing status.

Lastly, another way to improve this graphic would be to provide more complementary information, such as links to learn more about the detailed spending within each sector. For example, according to my millionaire status, I spend $166,418 on national defense. I would have loved to click on that to see a graphic dissecting how all of this money was spent.

Never-the-less, I love the math and data visualization work that went into this project. Kudos to USA Today producers John Waggoner, Julia Schmalz, Joshua Hatch and William Couch!

Other posts that might interest you:

• USA Today launches multimedia special marking five years since Hurricane Katrina
• Dallas Cowboys Stadium: Two multimedia approaches, one story
• AP Chile earthquake interactive under utilizes navigation

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