CARTOON: Average US Taxpayer Paid Out More For War & Militarism Than Medicare In 2023
"If we put more funds into education, we'll probably see kids and families better off. If we put more into Pentagon contracts, we'll see their CEOs and shareholders better off.
Cartoon by Mark Taylor / DeMOCKracy.ink
"This year $5,109 of the average American's taxpayer dollars went to fund the military and its support systems," said the co-author of a new analysis.”
By Jake Johnson
Common Dreams (4/9/24)
The average U.S. taxpayer was forced to contribute more to militarized programs than to Medicare and Medicaid combined in 2023, according to a new analysis released Tuesday by the National Priorities Project.
Published ahead of Tax Day, the analysis sheds light on the extent to which the federal income tax dollars of ordinary Americans are fueling "militarism and its support systems" such as the Pentagon, which currently accounts for roughly half of the federal government's total discretionary budget.
"Overall, in 2023, the average taxpayer contributed $5,109 for militarism and its support systems—including war and the Pentagon, veterans' programs, deportations and border militarization, and federal spending on policing and prisons," according to NPP, which is a project of the Institute for Policy Studies.
By comparison, the typical U.S. taxpayer contributed $4,308 to Medicare and Medicaid, $346 to K-12 education, $516 to nutrition assistance for low-income Americans, and $58 to diplomacy-related programs.
"These big corporations are already not paying their fair share in taxes. Instead, ordinary people are subsidizing those corporations' profits and multi-million dollar CEO pay packages. Taxpayer dollars should be going to real needs like schools, food and housing programs, or renewable energy—not lining the pockets of corporations."”
"Right now, millions of Americans are struggling to stay afloat—it's become so expensive to live, eat, and have a home. Yet, instead of addressing the cost-of-living crisis or funding measures to address our communities' needs, this year $5,109 of the average American's taxpayer dollars went to fund the military and its support systems," said Alliyah Lusuegro, NPP's outreach coordinator and a co-author of the new analysis.
If not your community, who gets your tax money?
"A far greater portion of our tax dollars goes toward militarism at home and abroad, and toward harming and separating immigrant families, when we should be investing instead in safe and healthy conditions for our communities and our futures," Lusuegro added.
Last year, according to NPP, $1,748 of the average American's income tax contributions went to the pockets of Pentagon contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing, which lobby Congress aggressively for an ever-larger military budget—much of which ends up in private hands.
Freeloading grifters
Lindsay Koshgarian, NPP's program director, said Tuesday that "it's outrageous that the average taxpayer is giving the equivalent of a month's rent to Pentagon contractors."
"These big corporations are already not paying their fair share in taxes," said Koshgarian. "Instead, ordinary people are subsidizing those corporations' profits and multi-million dollar CEO pay packages. Taxpayer dollars should be going to real needs like schools, food and housing programs, or renewable energy—not lining the pockets of corporations."
The analysis comes weeks after President Joe Biden signed into law an $825 billion military spending package for fiscal year 2024 that includes "includes $33.5 billion to build eight ships and allocates funds for 86 F-35 and 24 F-15EX fighter jets as well as 15 KC-46A tankers," Defense News reported.
Last month, Biden released a budget proposal that called for $850 billion for the Pentagon and more than $1 trillion overall in militarized funding.
"Just like our personal expenses, our income tax payments can change our lives for the better—or not," NPP said Tuesday. "If we put more funds into education, we'll probably see kids and families better off. If we put more into Pentagon contracts, we'll see their CEOs and shareholders better off—and we'll see U.S. weapons used in conflicts around the world."
I read my first novel in about 1963 when I was 13. The protagonist was a Norwegian boy who was trying to escape the Nazi’s in order to help his family. I remember being impressed by his courage. The concentration camps were mentioned in the story. At 13 I had not heard of them yet but I remember being scared by them. About that same time I befriended a fellow student named Michael. One day we were at his house and Mike brought out a notebook of pictures. His dad was an army photographer in the war and was there when Auschwitz and other camps were located. The notebook was filled with black and white photos of the camps … and stacks of bodies and and and and. And I didn’t know about this. Over the years I learned the German people claimed to not ‘know about this’. How could they not know? And now … as an old man I am angry and anxious and horrified that I spent my life ‘not knowing.’ Not knowing how evil my country was. How evil my Catholic priests were. Not knowing that the government killed my ex-father in law by having him hold a little stone … that turned out to be uranium that filled his brains with tumors. I hate that my tax money has been used to create weapons that kill and maim people, animals and The mother. I feel like a spouse that was abused and betrayed. I hate the mother fucking Congress and pentagon and all the shit lies. I feel ashamed. I’m complicit because I remained ignorant. My ignorance is on me but goddamn it we are owed better by the government and the press. Fuck them all.
"The average U.S. taxpayer was forced to contribute more to militarized programs than to Medicare and Medicaid combined in 2023, according to a new analysis released Tuesday by the National Priorities Project."
This is the travesty. We're wasting so many resources on killing people than we are on taking care of people's health... Truly evil. (Like your cartoon--that face of the oligarch is SCARY!)