Do you know where your income tax goes? In a just world, it'd go to free and comprehensive healthcare and education. It'd go to free and affordable housing and restorative rehabilitation. It'd go to a universal living wage. Too bad we don't live in that world. Last month, Congress unilaterally passed a $716 billion "defense" budget for fiscal year 2019 for its continued imperialist agenda - a budget that's only made possible through your federal income dollars. The establishment can bank on using almost half of your income taxes to pay for war and militarism in our backyards and beyond every year.
Giant military contractors like Northrop Grumman and Boeing will see big dollars added to their bottom line, with $75 billion allocated for the research and development of missiles, tanks, and aircrafts. A whopping $69 billion will go to the endless "War on Terror," which means more drone strikes from the U.S. and coalition members which have killed thousands of civilians and displaced countless families. And while 122 nations voted to outlaw nuclear weapons, the U.S. just budgeted for $24 billion for more.
Oh, and let's not forget about xenophobia and racism at home - $1.6 billion for only 65 miles of the infamous border wall, and $3.5 billion for more armed border agents, ICE officers, and 52,000 detention beds.
If we take our money out of warmaking, the establishment will have a more difficult time waging endless wars across communities and be forced to confront the real issues at hand. By demilitarizing our dollar and divesting from the government-sponsored military-industrial complex, we can redistribute our resources into transformative justice organizations led by and for our most marginalized communities.
That's why, in partnership with the National War Tax Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC), War Resisters League produces Where Your Income Tax Money Really Goes, an educational resource that demystifies the U.S. military budget and debunks the Government's self-reported numbers.
The Where Your Income Tax Money Really Goes flyer is a great tool to use in the classroom or at an action to begin difficult conversations around the federal government's top priority - the military - and imagining the power behind divesting from war tax.
