Tax Day last week brought the requisite grumbling and finagling for loopholes. It’s safe to say most Americans aren’t wild about paying taxes. We frown on countries that are heavily taxed, and generally believe less tax burden equals more freedom.

Yet we rely on government to pay for schools, police, clean streets and garbage collection. We believe people should pay their share, and take offense at the “Greed is good!” mantra Michael Douglas bellowed in the movie, “Wall Street.”

So why aren’t we bellowing back, “Taxes are good”?

For two reasons. We properly question: 1) if the tax code is fair, and 2) if the government’s spending priorities are right. OK, and some people are just greedy.

The nonprofit, Chicago-based Council on Children and Families has broken down government spending priorities, and says of every $100 in income tax we pay:

“$32 to defense.

“$19 to interest on the debt.

“$15 to supplemental programs such as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, child tax credits and farm subsidies.

“$14 to health.

“$6 to education, employment and social services.

“$4 to transportation.

There’s $2 apiece for justice, environment/natural resources and international affairs, and $1 each for community development, agriculture, science/technology/space, and the commerce and housing fund.

That lion’s share on defense should raise questions, as two costly, questionable wars drain money from other priorities.

But so should our health spending. The U.S. spends among the highest proportions of gross domestic product on health compared with other countries – 15.3 percent – according to a recent Frontline report, “Sick Around the World.” It compared health spending and affordability in five capitalist democracies. Yet some 47 million Americans lack health coverage. And according to the council, one-quarter of bankruptcies are because of medical needs.

Britain’s tax-financed system, conversely, spends 8.3 percent of GDP on health care. The average family pays no premium or co-pay for most services.

”(T)he financial benefits of the last decade’s tax cuts for middle class families never equaled the financial benefits that citizens of many other countries receive in the form of monthly child allowances, universal health care, subsidized parental leaves and child care, and college assistance,” says the council.

With tuition, room and board now topping $50,000 at top private American colleges, neither tax credits of several thousand dollars, at best, nor Pell Grants of up to $4,310 make much of a dent. In Britain, thanks to government subsidies, college tuition, normally $6,324, is free to families earning under $64,798. Every industrialized nation in Western Europe provides paid maternity (and in some cases paternity) leave. Canada pays families $100 a month for each child under age 6. In Belgium, all children from age 2 can get free early education.

Here, families pay on average $7,300 a year per child in day care. The maximum child-care credit for one child is $3,000. For poor children, there’s Head Start. This year, a record 28 million Americans will use food stamps, many of them working adults or on Social Security, according to a recent Bill Moyers show. But with rising food prices, their food stamps fall short. Yet the government is doling out lavish farm subsidies to wealthy landowners who don’t even farm.

If you think our priorities need reordering, speak up. With a new farm bill in the works, and a presidential election ahead, now is the time.

We may never celebrate April 15, but we might get closer to paying our taxes with trust in government’s priorities.