Do you know what those taxes are buying? A lot of pork, of course. Citizens Against Government Waste produces the annual Pig Book, which totals up pork-barrel projects in the federal budget.

Pork isn't confined to the federal budget, of course. The same problem afflicts taxpayers at the state level. Fortunately, in the last two years a number of groups have identified pork projects in state budgets. "Piglet" books are now available for In the last two years, piglet books have been produced for Kentucky, Maine (PDF), Minnesota (PDF) Ohio (PDF), Oklahoma (PDF), Pennsylvania (PDF), and Tennessee (PDF).

According to group that produces the Pig Book, taxpayers caught a break at the federal level in the 2007 budget. That's due to the effort of three members of Congress, who were able to take advantage of the earmarking scandal. There's still too much federal pork, but a reduction of pork after seven years of increases is welcome.

Now if states could follow, and even exceed this example.