The National Priorities Project (NPP) at the Institute for Policy Studies released their annual Tax Receipt, revealing that the “average taxpayer contributed $4,049 to militarism and its support systems––including war and the Pentagon, veterans’ programs, and mass deportations and border militarization… [the] analysis found that Americans’ tax dollars only paid for $2,492 for Medicaid.”
Available for interviews:
LINDSAY KOSHGARIAN; [email protected]
Koshgarian is the Program Director of the National Priorities Project.
For NPP, Koshgarian said: “Our tax receipt shows why so many people in this country are struggling. We’re facing chronic underinvestment in this country, from healthcare to education and more. That money has instead been funding a $1-trillion war machine and a class of Pentagon contractors getting rich off our tax dollars. The good news is that if we reverse our backwards priorities, we can start to make Americans’ lives better.”
Koshgarian told the Institute for Public Accuracy that mainstream media is missing multiple aspects of this story. “From the point of view of war costs, I would point out that the mainstream media has completely missed the fact that the U.S. war machine is so well-funded at $1 trillion-plus that the Pentagon didn’t need to ask for a single penny from Congress––or by extension, the public––to attack both Venezuela and start the Iran war this year.
“Now the White House wants a $1.5 trillion war budget for next year––a 42 percent increase. Every single dollar that we add to the war budget will make more wars not just possible, but likely.
“If we want to prevent more unnecessary wars, the most critical step is to stop the funding. That means no additional funds for war. The Pentagon can more than make do with a $1 trillion budget.”