Now that I have a job and have to pay income tax, I thought it might be a good idea to read the United States 2019 fiscal budget to find out just how angry I should be about paying taxes.

After reading the whole budget cover to cover, I felt a level of confusion and annoyance that I had never before felt in my life.

The first thing that bothered me was how little attention the budget gave to the opioid crisis which is a major driver in the increased amount of overdoses in the United States, and I know this because it literally says that in the budget.

However, even after admitting to how severe the crisis is, the budget only allots $5 billion for new resources over the next five years. According to Time Magazine’s March 5 issue about opioids, experts say that the amount needs to be at least 25 times more than that in order to make a permanent impact.

Another thing that bothered me was the fact that the Flint Water Crisis was not addressed at all. Being from Michigan, this issue is one that I hold close to my heart. Ever since the city of Flint decided to switch their water source to the Flint River in 2014, the citizens have been exposed to dangerous amounts of lead, which can lead to kidney problems, heart problems, and in 15 cases in the city, even death.

A theme I noticed in the budget was that most of the money was being allocated to preemptive issues, such as the border wall and nuclear weapons. The budget requests $18 billion for the border wall, an amount that could alone fix the Flint water crisis. It requests $686 billion for the Department of Defense, a 13 percent increase from 2017 that could instead be used to lay the groundwork for an opioid-free future.

I understand that we need the military, and of course it wouldn’t hurt to have more border security, but what about the issues that are affecting people right now?

The budget plans for the estimated $3.47 trillion in taxes expected to come in this year, but if we aren’t allocating our funds properly, we won’t be setting our future generations up for success. We should be using our money towards the future.

At the beginning of the budget, President Trump lists what he believes are the main issues the budget should address, writing that “the current fiscal path is unsustainable and future generations deserve better.”

I never thought I would say this, but I agree with President Trump. Future generations do deserve better, and in order to do that we must invest money to help solve the current problems we are facing.