April 8, 2009

Defense Spending Accounted For 37.3 Cents of Every Tax Dollar in 2008

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Even as Defense Secretary Robert Gates initiates an historic review of the Pentagon’s budget, recommending that many of the department’s big-ticket programs be scrapped after years of mismanagement and bloat, a new report from the National Priorities Project is a useful reminder of just how bad things have gotten. The report breaks down how Washington spent a median-income family’s 2008 tax dollars. The results speak for themselves: 

As taxes come due on April 15, taxpayers can take stock of how the federal government spent each 2008 income tax dollar: 37.3 cents went towards military-related spending, while environment, energy and science-related projects split 2.8 cents…

37.3 cents for military-related spending breaks down as follows: 29.4 cents for current military and war spending coupled with 7.9 cents for military-related debt. At 3.8 cents of each dollar, veterans’ benefits receive similar proportions of a federal tax dollar as housing and community programs and food-related programs.

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