reality check

as americans all over the world pay their annual federal income taxes this week (btw, for those of you who haven’t filed yet, the official deadline was yesterday!), i wanted to highlight something i read from sojourners magazine. according to their research, 36 cents of every dollar we pay in federal income taxes goes to pay for past and present military spending!

this can be interpreted in many ways. some might think this is a reflection of the dangerous world we live in and in order to defend ourselves, this is the cost we must pay. others of you believe that this pathetic budgetary reality is due to our country’s predilection for self-interest and dominance in the world.

i am certain that the truth is somewhere in the middle, but no matter what you believe about the “why” for this amount of spending on war and violence, i hope that this percentage disturbs you deeply!

(i tried to look up an estimate for what the u.s. government will collect in federal income taxes this year but could not find anything to relay to you. if any of you knows this figure, please inform us by commenting on this entry.)