War spending has continued steady and high. But we don't know exactly how high.
Ordinarily, FCNL produces an annual analysis of spending on war and other priorities before income tax returns are due in April. This year, because of the way the budget proposals were introduced -- in outline form only -- we've had to estimate based on February 2008 figures.
At that time, most spending decisions for FY2008 had been made and the Office of Management and Budget had estimated spending for the remaining 9 months of the federal fiscal year.
Based on that estimate, we calculate that 43.4 percent of your 2008 tax dollars were spent on the military, both for current military programs and past military spending.
29.8 percent is the portion estimated to be spent on current military programs -- the Pentagon, nuclear weapons, foreign military training and assistance.
13.6 percent is the portion estimated to be spent on the cost of past wars and military spending -- a calculated percentage of the interest on the federal debt, nuclear weapons clean-up, support for veterans and related costs.
These figures include spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We calculate this percentage based on the federal fund (which excludes trust funds such as Social Security). Find out more about how we arrive at this percentage.
FCNL will produce a more detailed -- and perhaps updated -- analysis of military and other spending when the budget documents become available. The release date is now estimated to be in May.
-- March 25, 2009
