I try to never write off press releases but I got a fax that shocked me this morning. A new report from the National Priorities Project shows that almost 40 cents of every tax dollar that will be paid this year will be spent on past and present military projects!

I knew government spending was out of whack but not this dramatically. This allocation is in contrast to the three-quarters of one penny per dollar spent on diplomacy, economic development assistance and locking down loose nuclear materials and the hundredth of a penny spent on renewable energy and conservation! What spending areas come after the military? Healthcare at twenty-one cents on the dollar and interest on the US debt at nineteen cents per dollar–another proud legacy of the Bush agenda.

Read the NPP’s new report, Where Do Your Tax Dollars Go?, for more info. NPP is also the leading source for accurate information on the actual costs of the Iraq war, offering breakdowns of the cost by state and Congressional district. So check their Iraq material out. Then, visit the NPP Action Center to vent some of the outrage you’re likely feeling at the obscene costs of Bush’s Iraq venture.