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The War Resisters League spends a lot of time, energy and money to create this resource. Please credit when using. For permissions to reprint, email us at wrl [at] warresisters.org
WRL'S PIE CHART FLYER
The current edition of the War Resisters League's famous "pie chart" flyer analyzes the Federal Fiscal Year 2015 Budget. Perfect for Tax Day leafletting, as a focus for forums and panels and workshops and more!
Each year, War Resisters League analyzes federal funds outlays as presented in detailed tables in "Analytical Perspectives" of the Budget of the United States Government. Our analysis is based on federal funds, which do not include trust funds -- such as Social Security -- that are raised separately from income taxes for specific purposes. What you pay (or don't pay) by April 15, 2014 goes to the federal funds portion of the budget.
HOW WERE THE FY2015 PIE CHART FIGURES DETERMINED?
Current military” includes Dept. of Defense ($584 billion) and the military portion from other departments as noted in current military box above ($202 billion). Funding for the war on terror is listed as “Overseas Contingency Operations” and totals $47 in this breakdown. “Past military” represents veterans’ benefits plus 80% of the interest on the debt.*
These figures are from an analysis of detailed tables in the Analytical Perspectives book of the Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2015. The figures are Federal funds, which do not include Trust funds — such as Social Security — that are raised and spent separately from income taxes.
What you pay (or don’t pay) by April 15, 2014, goes to the Federal funds portion of the budget. The government practice of combining Trust and Federal funds began during the Vietnam War, thus making the human needs portion of the budget seem larger and the military portion smaller.
*Analysts differ on how much of the debt stems from the military; other groups estimate 50% to 60%. We use 80% because we believe if there had been no military spending most (if not all) of the national debt would have been eliminated.
HOMELAND (IN) SECURITY
The attacks on 9/11 led to the U.S. government’s endless “War on Terror” abroad. The creation in 2003 of the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) — a second “defense” department — brought that war home. While military style policing, especially in communities of color, grew with the war on drugs in the 1980s, access to the weapons of war has proliferated through Pentagon and now DHS programs. “Current military” on the pie chart incorporates the variety of federal agencies that contribute to the militarization of our lives.
- Under the Pentagon’s Excess Property Program, $4 billion of equipment has been transferred to state and local police departments since 1990, including grenade launchers, helicopters, military robots, bayonets, armored vehicles, battle fatigues, etc.
- Even the smallest police departments can purchase new battle-gear and surveillance equipment with generous DHS grants—over $34 billion since 2003. Ohio State University will use their 18-ton Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle “for a police presence at football games.”
- AR-15 semi-automatic rifles have become a standard police weapon and school districts from California to Georgia are buying them by the dozens.
- Arms merchants are cashing in those DHS grants with heavy marketing and sales across the U.S.
- Urban Shield, a police training and weapons expo, invites your local cop to shop and train with police around the world from Bahrain to Brazil, courtesy of such companies as Lockheed Martin, Alliant Techsystems/ATK, and Safariland.
- Customs and Border Protection (CPB, part of DHS) is the largest law enforcement agency in the U.S. Investigations into dehumanizing detentions, intrusive searches, and killings at the border reveal an agency operating with impunity, whose policies are shrouded in secrecy.
- CPB owns 10 Predator drones (operating cost: $3,000 an hour). From 2010-12, they loaned 700 surveillance flights to local, state, and federal agencies.
- U.S. taxpayers throw $786 billion a year at weaponized “security.” Meanwhile food insecurity (hunger) is at record levels for the fifth straight year in the U.S.
TAKE ACTION: WHAT YOU CAN DO
Leaflet with this flyer year-round and on Tax Day, April 15, 2014, which is also the Global Day of Action on Military Spending. (demilitarize. org). Be part of the New Priorities Network.
Join WRL’s Facing Tear Gas campaign to end the use of tear gas and related chemical weapons and police militarization in the U.S. and globally. The campaign is organizing against paramilitary training “Urban Shield” sites across the country.
Call for your community to opt out! Stop local law enforcement from accepting military giveaways and DHS grants for weapons of war.
Write letters to elected officials and local newspapers. Send them copies of this flyer. Demand that the Pentagon budget be slashed.
Protest with your money! Sign up at wartax boycott.org. Refuse to pay all or part of your federal income tax. Whatever you choose to refuse—$1, $10, or a percentage—send a letter to elected officials and tell them why. Though illegal, thousands of people openly participate in this form of protest. Contact us for information or referral to a counselor near you. Contribute resisted tax money to organizations that support the common good.
Watch Death & Taxes, a 30-min. film featuring war tax resisters from across the country. Online at nwtrcc.org/deathandtaxes.php.
For more about refusing to pay for war, contact the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee, PO Box 150553, Brooklyn, NY 11215, 800.269.7464, nwtrcc.org. Support the Peace Tax Fund bill: peacetaxfund.org.
Read and use War Tax Resistance: A Guide to Withholding Your Support from the Military, 144-page handbook with history, methods and resources.
DOWNLOAD PDF FILES HERE:
(Right-click and download)
FY2015 (Released March 2014) Pie Chart Flyer
in English, in color (pdf)
in English, in black & white (pdf)
in Spanish, in color (pdf)
in Spanish, in black & white (pdf)
For Pie Charts from previous years,
check out the Pie Chart Archives
Order print copies via our Online Store,
or by phone at 212.228.0450
or by mail at:
War Resisters League, 339 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012
If you have questions about ordering, email us at wrl [at] warresisters.org
Copies are available for $.10 each (1-199), $.07 each (200 or more), $.06 each (500+) plus 20% postage.
Call for information on very large or rush orders.
For Pie Charts from previous years,
check out the Pie Chart Archives
The War Resisters League spends a lot of time, energy and money to create this resource. Please credit when using. For permissions to reprint, email us at wrl [at] warresisters.org
