I got an email today from the Friends Committee on National Legislation. I look forward to their messages in my inbox. They are a great organization. I’m proud to be a supporter of theirs.
Friends Committee on National Legislation’s budget team calculates that 41 cents out of every dollar that you pay in 2006 federal income taxes before April 17 goes to the military – to pay for both current and past military activities. That figure is the clearest reflection of how the federal government spends your tax dollars. Of every dollar you pay in taxes:
* 1 cent goes to diplomacy and development;
* 5 cents goes to education, job training, and social services
* 12 cents goes to respond to poverty in the United States
* 41 cents goes to warThis budget is out of balance. And it will get more out of balance in the next year. Congress will vote next week to pay another $100 billion for the war and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. Shouldn’t the government spend more to prevent war, address the environmental challenges facing this country, and promote education? Join the debate about federal taxes.
Write your representative and urge her or him to cosponsor legislation that would permit conscientious objectors to war to pay their taxes into an Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund.