National Priorities Project Bulletin

Today's release of our annual publication, Where Do Your Tax Dollars Go?, offers an updated breakdown of how the federal government allocated the median income family's 2005 tax payment for each state and 200 towns, cities and counties at www.nationalpriorities.org/taxday. It also includes a comparative look at how the spending of the tax dollar has shifted from 2000 and 2005.

The military's share of the income tax dollar has risen by 20 percent since 2000, while the share of spending has dropped for job training (-21 percent), environment (-19 percent), housing (-7 percent) and veteran's benefits (-2 percent).

More than two-thirds of every income tax dollar in 2005 goes to military, health and interest on the debt. Since 2000, military spending's share of the income tax dollar has risen from 24 cents to 29 cents. This rise is a result of the nearly 70 percent increase in military outlays.

At the same time, health spending's share of the tax dollar has risen from 17 cents to 20 cents while the number of uninsured grew by 6 million. The other significant jump lies in education spending at 50 percent. This increase is primarily due to the No Child Left Behind Act, which remains significantly underfunded. In 2000, education accounted for less than three cents of each tax dollar and the increase in share translates to four cents of every tax dollar in 2005.

NPP's documented shift in the spending of our tax dollar over the last five years -- a 20 percent greater share for military spending while job training and housing get less -- offers a stark example of the consequences of the federal government's current priorities and the resulting neglect that is taking place here at home.

Also available at www.nationalpriorities.org/yourtaxes is NPP's interactive tax chart, which allows you to find out how YOUR income tax payment was spent by the federal government. You can find updated cost of war information for each state at www.nationalpriorities.org/iraqwarcost and state-level breakdowns on the impact of the President's proposed FY07 budget at www.nationalpriorities.org/budget07.

We urge you to use this information in your work and your own activism and to pass it on to others. And please let us know how you use it.

Thanks for all your efforts.
Best,
Pam

Pamela Schwartz
Outreach Director
413-584-9556
pschwartz@nationalpriorities.org
www.nationalpriorities.org