From: Edward Agro <eagro@igc.org>
Subject: INFO: US Military Budget - Breakdown
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: University of Missouri
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 20:08:45 GMT

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Synopsis - The following material has been taken from the first page of the 
WRL flyer "WHERE YOUR INCOME TAX MONEY REALLY GOES." The second page of the 
flyer, giving motivation for resistance  and and WRL's suggestions for 
action, will be found in a following posting.

Note: another excellent source of US-military-budget analysis, so far only 
available in hardcopy, is mentioned at the end of this posting.

These materials were first posted on Peacenet  --  ed <eagro@igc.org>
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                  WHERE YOUR INCOME TAX MONEY REALLY GOES

           The United States Federal Budget for Fiscal Year 1992

The FY 92 Federal Budget is $1,104 trillion. It may be broken down thus:

                        Scale: Billions of dollars     
0-----------------|10------------------|20-----------------|30----------375|

$334 Billion or 30% for Current Military ------------------------|

$267 Billion  or 24% for Past Military -------------|

$274 Billion  or 25% for Human Resources ------------|

$119 Billion or 11% for General Government
----------------------|

$62 Billion  or 6% Physical Resources
-----------|

$48 Billion or 4% Savings and Loan Crisis/Bank Bailouts
--------|

These amounts can be further broken down as follows.

Current Military ($334 Billion or 30%): Military Personnel, Retired Pay, 
     Operation and Maintenance, Family Housing, Procurement, Research and 
     Development, Construction, DoE Nuclear Weapons = $11.7 billion, 
     International Security Assistance, Coast Guard, 50% estimated military 
     portion of NASA = $7 billion, CIA, President's Funds, FEMA)

Past Military ($267 Billion or 24%): Veterans Benefits $32; Interest on 
     National Debt (80% estimated to be created by military spending) $235

Human Resources $274 Billion  or 25%): Education, Health and Human 
     Services, HUD housing subsidies, Labor Department

General Government $119 Billion or 11%): Government, Justice Department, 
     International Affairs, Peace Corps, 20% interest on national debt, 
     civilian portion of NASA

Physical Resources $62 Billion or 6%): Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, HUD 
     administration/community development, Interior Department, 
     Transportation, Environmental Protection

Savings and Loan Crisis/Bank Bailouts $48 Billion or 4%): FDIC and 
     Resolution Trust

$1,104 Trillion or  100% Total Federal Funds


                     How These Figures Were Determined

     All these dollar figures are for fiscal year 1992, as reported in the 
Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 1993. The percentages 
are Federal Funds, calculated after removing Trust Funds (such as Social 
Security), which are raised and spent separately from income taxes. What 
you pay (or don't pay) on April 15 goes only to the Federal Funds portion 
of the budget. The government practice of combining Trust Funds and Federal 
Funds (the so-called ``Unified Budget'') began in the 1960's during the 
Vietnam War. The government presentation makes the human needs portion of 
the budget seem larger and the military portion smaller.

     ``Current military'' spending adds together money allocated for the 
Department of Defense ($295 billion) plus the ``defense'' portion from 
other parts of the budget. Spending on nuclear weapons (without their 
delivery systems) amounts to about 1% of the total budget.

     ``Past military'' is represented by veterans' benefits plus 80% of the 
interest on the national debt. If there had been no military spending, most 
(if not all) of the national debt would have been eliminated. Analysts 
differ on how much of the debt stems from the military; estimates range 
from 50% to 100%. We felt that 80% may even be conservative.

     This chart is calculated from fiscal year 1992 ``budget outlays'' 
reported in the President's proposed 1993 budget publication. We use 1992 
outlays (bills actually being paid) to show where your taxes due on April 
15, 1992, are going. The President's proposed 1993 budget is debated by 
Congress through the spring and summer of 1992 for approval by the 
beginning of the government's fiscal year in October 1992. Contact your 
legislators now with your concerns!

     
                         The Government Deception

     The following figures are the Administration's view of the budget (and 
similar to the figures you'll see in your IRS booklet or the media). 
This is a distortion of how our income tax dollars are spent because it 
includes Trust Funds (e.g., Social Security) and buries the expenses of 
past military spending in nonmilitary parts of the pie. For a more accurate 
representation of how your Federal income tax dollar is really spent, see 
the preceding breakdown.

US Government breakdown of the FY 92 Budget:

     Deposit Insurance 6%

     Other Federal Operations 7%

     Grants to States & Localities 12%

     Net Interest 14%

     National Defense 20%

     Direct Benefit Payments for Individuals 41%
___________________________________________________________________________
The printed version of "WHERE YOUR INCOME TAX MONEY REALLY GOES" is 
available for .10 each (1-199), .07 each (200 or more), .05 each (500 plus) 
plus postage, from

WAR RESISTERS LEAGUE  339 Lafayette St.  New York, NY 10012  <wrl@igc.org>
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Note: Another analysis of the US military budget can be found in FCNL 
Washington Newsletter # 552 (Mar 92), available from 

FCNL, 245 2nd St NW, Washington DC 20002   (202) 547-5795
(or try sncrom@igc.org)

I believe a single copy of the newsletter is free, though FCNL would 
appreciate a contribution.

As far as I'm aware, The FCNL analysis is not available online.  --  ed
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Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive