$$ for People, Not Endless War

Tomorrow is Tax Day in the United States, the deadline when individuals are required to file federal income tax returns. Nearly all of us (except for the very small number of war tax resisters and those wealthy enough to be able to avoid paying their fair share of taxes) pay a vast sum to support the massive US War Machine. Although only an outline of the Republical federal budget has been presented for 2026 (another departure from typical processes by the Trump Regime), our friends at War Resisters League project that half of the Trump budget would to to war spending. Their annual flier analyzing the federal budget is a valuable resource. Check it out here. One of the key things they remind us is that Social Security and Medicare are Trust Funds – separate from the regular federal budget. Most other pie charts you'll see look very different than this one because they wrongly include those funds to obscure the huge share of our money which supports militarism.

As the renegades in DC talk about retaking the Panama Canal, conquering Greenland and absorbing Canada, the outrages of US militarism grow more clear. And the theft of resources from desperately needed social programs couldn't be more stark. The growing movement for democracy has thus far done a better job of addressing the need to maintain funding for social programs, infrastructure, research, education, etc. than it has in calling for deep cuts in the Pentagon budget.

While war tax resistance is a difficult and risky (though extremely worthwhile) undertaking for most people, there are things we can all do to advocate for reduced war spending and increased spending on social needs. Let's keep at it!

In peace,

Andy Mager
for SCW

PS: On April 5-6 I had the opportunity to offer the homily at All Saints Church here in Syracuse. You can watch a recording of my 10 minute talk here: https://boxcast.tv/channel/y8w2ofbcxut8j11gllzz.... The introduction starts at 22 minutes in.

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