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How Your Tax Dollars are Used | War Resisters League

The new War Resisters League’s annual “pie chart” flyer, Where Your Income Tax Money Really Goes, analyzes the Federal Fiscal Year 2024 Budget (FY 2025 is 1 October 2024 – 30 September 2025).  This FY2025 issue was published in March 2024.

Each year War Resisters League analyzes federal funds outlays as presented in detailed tables in “Analytical Perspectives” of the Budget of the United States Government. Our analysis is based on federal funds, which do not include trust funds – such as Social Security – that are raised separately from income taxes for specific purposes. What federal income taxes you pay (or don’t pay) by April 15, 2024, goes to the federal funds portion of the budget.

Fiscal Year 2025 (Released March 2024) Pie Chart Flyer
in English, in color (pdf)
in English, black & white (pdf)

Not including new funding, the US provides Israel over $3 billion every year, with almost the entire amount being used to support the Israeli military. Since World War II, the US had dedicated more foreign aid to Israel than any other country.

DEAD WRONG: U.S. Foreign Policy

Few could miss the cynicism of President Biden proudly announcing token food drops into Gaza in March 2024, all the while providing Israel with thousands of made-in-USA bombs to drop on a strip of land the size of Las Vegas. Already 31,000 Palestinians had been killed and homes, hospitals, businesses, schools,hospitals, businesses, schools, roads, and farmland in Gaza left in ruins or bulldozed.roads, and farmland in Gaza left in ruins or bulldozed.

U.S. foreign policy is designed to kill

Roughly two-thirds of current confl icts worldwide involveRoughly two-thirds of current conflicts worldwide involve one or more adversaries armed byone or more adversaries armed by the United States.the United States.

  • 78 years & $220 billion in military aid to Israel supported the occupation of Palestinians in thethe occupation of Palestinians in the WEST BANK and GAZA by the most powerful military in the region.by the most powerful military in the region.
  • $3.8 billion a year military aid to Israel will continue to 2029 under an agreement negotiated by Obama. Furthermore, Biden used loopholes in weapons sales guidelines to send Israel more than 100 shipments of bombs & military equipment.
  • $46 billion of U.S. military aid to UKRAINE have slowed a Russian invasion but led to a quagmire — costing morea Russian invasion but led to a quagmire — costing more than 10,500 civilian lives and destroyed villages and cities.
  • Trump used loopholes during his presidency to sendused loopholes during his presidency to send billions of dollars of weapons to Saudi Arabia and UAE to carry on the war in Yemen with upward of 19,000 civilian deaths
  • Arms industry political donations totaled $19 million during Biden’s first two years. Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, and Generalheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, and General Dynamics took 58% of the business.

Ceasefire Now! Negotiate! Disarm the Pentagon!

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Get involved in WRL’s organizing and education work: nonviolent direct action training, counter-military recruitment, internationalist work, and more. Visit WRL’s membership handbook at warresisters.org/joinwrl. Find resources to challenge militarism, curb police and border patrol power, strengthen nonviolent action and lift up community resilience!

Write elected officials, letters-to-the-editor, and posts online. Send and share copies of this flyer. Explain your budget priorities for a better world.

Divest from war! Refuse to pay all or part of your federal income tax. Though illegal, thousands of people openly participate in this form of protest.  Whatever you choose to refuse—$1, $10, 48% or 100%—send a letter to elected officials and tell them why. Contact us for information or referral to a counselor near you. Contribute resisted tax money to groups that work for the common good.

For more about refusing to pay for war, brochures, and other resources, contact the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee, (800) 269-7464 or see nwtrcc.org.

Order a DVD of NWTRCC’s film, Death and Taxes from WRL’s online store.

Read and use War Tax Resistance: A Guide to Withholding Your Support from the Military, a 144-page handbook with history, methods and resources. Available for $5 plus postage from WRL’s online store. A new edition will be published in 2024.

You can also download the flyers and print them locally:

Fiscal Year 2025 (Released March 2024) Pie Chart Flyer
in English, in color (pdf)
in English, black & white (pdf)

 

We offer these downloads free of charge, but we really appreciate your donation to support the work of producing this important resource each year.  If you can, donate today!

For Pie Charts from previous years, check out the Pie Chart Archives

***NOTE ABOUT SHIPPING*** Once we receive them from the printers, pie chart orders are being mailed no later than 48 hours after receiving the order. Orders of 50 and more are sent priority mail,  which arrives in 2-3 days. Postage costs more than 20%, an additional donation is appreciated.

Minimum Order: 20 Pie Charts (for smaller orders we encourage you to download and print your own!)

Vote ‘Uncommitted’ to Tell the Biden Administration: End the Genocide in Gaza Now!

By Joan Cavanagh, NH Sunday Vigil for Peace and Justice

The New Haven Sunday Vigil for Peace and Justice strongly urges Democratic voters in Connecticut to choose the “uncommitted” option in the April 2nd presidential primary as a signal to the Biden administration to end US financial and military support for the war on the people of Gaza.
The definition of genocide is “the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group.” The clear intent of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s administration is to erase an entire population through bombing, land invasion, starvation, displacement, and destruction of their infrastructure and livelihoods. More than 30,000 people have been killed since October 2023.

This war would not be possible without U.S. money and arms. Only President Biden can end it. “Connecticut voters, including Jewish voters like me, are sending Biden a clear message in the Democratic Primary. We reject his funding and fueling of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. We are uncommitted on April 2nd to show opposition to his deadly policies,” said Sarah White of Jewish Voice for Peace Action of Connecticut (https://www.wfsb.com/2024/03/14/growing-number-ct-voters-plan-vote-uncommitted-upcoming-primary).

The “uncommitted” or “no preference” strategy has already been used effectively in many other states: about 13% of voters in Michigan (100,000 people) voted this way, as did 30% of Hawaii’s voters.

On Super Tuesday, 9.3% of all Democratic voters across 15 states and one “territory” chose “no preference” on the ballot.

The Biden administration is feeling the pressure. The only way to save future lives is to apply “no preference” wherever possible.

We also strongly urge you to call the White House comment line to tell them why you have voted this way; write to your senators and representatives to inform them and to demand that they act to stop this genocide; and submit letters to the editor or op-ed pieces to discuss your reasons further. “The Republican Party is offering us fascism, and the Democratic Party is offering us genocide. We demand a different choice. That’s why we’re voting for ‘no preference.’” – Merrie Najimy, organizer, Vote No Preference

Massachusetts Coalition (https://www.masslive.com/politics/2024/03/mass-no-preference-vote-won-over-9-in-dem-primary-on-super-tuesday.html).

US Rep. Rosa DeLauro Explains the Proposed CEO Act

Excerpts from Rep. DeLauro’s Response to a PAR Reader

Since 1978, economic productivity has outpaced workers’ wages by more than four times while executive pay has increased by … 18 times as much as productivity growth. In 2022, the average CEO had an income of $25.2 million in salary, bonuses, stock awards, and stock options while in the fourth quarter of 2022, the average full-time worker made about $56,420 in wages. The average CEO would only need to work one day to make what the average worker makes in ten months.

Large corporations and the wealthy continue to increase their profits while working families and middle-class Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. From 1979 to 2020, annual wages for the bottom 90 percent of households increased just 26 percent, while average incomes for the wealthiest one percent increased more than 160 percent. The Curtailing Executive Overcompensation (CEO) Act would
apply an excise tax on publicly traded and private companies with over $100 million in gross receipts … and $10 million in payroll – for companies which have at least a 50 to one CEO-to-median-worker pay disparity. In 2022, it is estimated that the CEO Act would have raised an estimated $10.1 billion in revenue from Fortune 100 top U.S. companies.

Should this legislation come to the House floor for a vote, you can be sure I will keep your thoughts in mind. In Congress, I will continue fighting to prioritize the middle and working class over big corporations by taking a more equitable approach to the challenges we face as a nation and make sure billionaires and tax cheats can no longer escape paying taxes. It is crucial we reform our broken tax system to cut taxes for the middle class and encourage job creation here at home. That is why I remain a strong supporter of the Billionaire Minimum Income Tax Act which would require households worth over $100 million to pay at least a 20 percent tax rate on their full income, including unrealized gains. Simply put, it will ensure billionaires do not pay a lower tax rate than working families by preventing tax avoidance. …

Community Conversation Monday, April 15: Peace and Conflict in the Middle East

by Millie Grenough, New Haven Peace Commission

The world we live in is constantly changing. The opportunity to express our opinions and hear each other with safety and respect in these challenging times is a cherished freedom. Join us for Community Conversation: What Does the Current Situation in Israel/Palestine Tell Us about Peace & Conflict? We can also discuss how we really want our taxes used! Invite family members, neighbors, and colleagues. We look forward to lively conversation.

If you are new to the Conversation, we extend a warm welcome to you. We invite people of various ages, diverse spiritual and ethnic groups to participate actively and speak from their hearts. To respect the privacy of individuals, we are again not inviting press: no photos/no quotes. If you have participated in a previous Community Conversation, come again! In response to previous participants who expressed a strong desire for more, we are scheduling this fourth conversation. We extend a special invitation to the youth of New Haven. Free and open to the public – registration not needed. Hosted by: City of New Haven Peace Commission, Greater New Haven Peace Council, & Ice the Beef.

Monday, April 15, 6-7:30 p.m., Mitchell Library,
37 Harrison Street, New Haven

Contact: Millie Grenough, member of New Haven Peace Commission, Coordinator of Community Conversations events: [email protected]; 203-623-7855. More info: www.Facebook.com/PeaceCommission; www.bit.ly/nhvpeace4.

Actions Throughout CT Call for Ceasefire in Gaza

by Jewish Voice for Peace New Haven

In the past months there have been rallies and demonstrations in many Connecticut towns and cities calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and other demands such as access to humanitarian aid for Palestinians, an end to the occupation, a free Palestine, and no military aid to Israel.

The New Haven Board of Alders has scheduled a hearing for public testimony on the ceasefire resolution. The hearing is set for Wednesday, May 1, at 6 p.m. on Zoom. Sign up TODAY if you want to speak, by emailing: [email protected]. You do not need to submit your testimony at this time. Just write, “My name is ___ and I would like to sign up to testify in support of the ceasefire resolution.”

If you are a New Haven resident, please include that in your email as well. The sooner you sign up, the more likely it is that you’ll have an opportunity to speak.

Many thanks from JVP New Haven!

24th SCSU Women’s & Gender Studies Conference April 19

On April 19th and 20th the Dept. of Women’s & Gender Studies (WGS) at Southern CT State University (SCSU) is holding its signature conference on campus. The theme is “Continuities, Ruptures, Resurgences: Still in Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens,” inspired by Alice Walker’s womanist essays, which continue to be a vision for those of us engaged in the feminist and social justice struggles. The 2024 WGS Conference at Southern offers a critical space and place for a two-day inquiry across differences and communities into the intersections of gender, race, communities, and institutions. Since 1991, the feminist collective at SCSU has been hosting conferences that reach across communities and bring together activists, academics, artists, and feminist practitioners from diverse backgrounds for a two-day conference at SCSU, 501 Crescent St., New Haven.

Please visit the WGS website for more information and contact info: https://www.southernct.edu/academics/womens-gender-studies; 203-392-6133; [email protected].

Rock to Rock Earth Day Ride April 27

by Chris Schweitzer, New Haven Climate Movement

Saturday, April 27, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., East Rock Park. Orange and Cold Spring Streets. Rain or shine. Join for a beautiful spring ride or walk!

Rock to Rock is in its 16th year, and on Saturday, April 27, over 800 riders and hikers will head out from East Rock Park on various riding and hiking adventures to support over 20 local nonprofit environmental projects. All Rock to Rock activities will help people explore local natural beauty, build community, have fun, and support environmental/climate projects.

Rock to Rock Earth Day Ride is the area’s largest Earth Day event, supporting over 20 local environmental projects.

Participants are invited to do Rock to Rock in small groups at staggered starts. In 2024 you can ride a new 5-mile Family Ride, a 12-, 20-, 40- or 60-mile ride in a loop starting and ending in East Rock Park. For our youngest riders, we’ll have our Bike Rodeo and a 1-mile loop around the park. You also are welcome to hike around the base of East Rock. Common Ground is offering a West Rock hike as well. There will also be a Green Fair from 11–2 p.m. with food trucks, organization tables, and live music. Check out our website for all the details at www.rocktorock.org.

Participants will raise over $200,000 this year for local environmental projects. All of the participating organizations are continuing to step up to face the slower-moving climate emergency that’s still in the background and to work in a hundred different ways to make our community greener, healthier, more welcoming, and more connected.

Visit rocktorock.org to see the listing of our partner organizations, to register to ride and for the day’s schedule.

Rain Barrels Support A Clean Environment

by Frank Panzarella, NH Bioregional Group

Much of city land is covered with asphalt, concrete, and buildings. Rain water from these surfaces can carry oil, chemicals, and a variety of trash that can create serious pollution problems and sewer overflows, especially with heavy rains.

New Haven and other cities have introduced bioswales, rain gardens, and permeable surfaces to help reduce these issues and to separate storm water from sewers. Rain barrels are another part of this effort that can save money and tap water for homeowners, keep more rain water out of sewers, and provide gardens and flowers with water during dry periods.

In the last several years the Rain Barrel Project, together with the NH Bioregional Group in cooperation with the GNH Water Pollution Control Authority, has provided free rain barrels, training, and kits in the GNH area to gardeners and homeowners. In 2021 this project received an Environmental Stewardship award from the GNHWPCA. We hope to continue the project this spring and are applying for a grant to help cover the costs of barrels and kits. If you are interested in obtaining a rain barrel for this spring season, send an email to [email protected]. Also look for our table at Earth Day in Hamden and North Haven. As soon as we are able to get a new batch of barrels and kits, we will schedule a training and giveaway day.

Yale Apologizes for Ties to Slavery in New Report, Pledges List of Actions

Benjamin Hernandez, Yale Daily News, Feb. 19, 2024

University President Peter Salovey and Joshua Bekenstein ’80, senior trustee of the Yale Corporation, [have] issued a formal apology and a set of actions in response to Yale’s ties to slavery.

The announcement came alongside the release of a book titled Yale and Slavery: A History, which is the culmination of the findings made by the Yale and Slavery Working Group. …The book was released in its entirety online:

https://yaleandslavery.yale.edu/sites/default/files/2024-02/

Yale and Slavery A History Feb2024 David Blight with the Yale and Slavery Research Project.pdf.

In their announcement, Salovey and Bekenstein not only framed the project as a recognition of the University’s role in and association with the institution of slavery, but it also formally apologized for the ways that Yale’s leaders participated in slavery, adding that the findings from the group have “propelled” the University toward actions to address the continued effects of enslavement today. …

A new app will offer self-guided tours with 19 points of interest to help visitors explore the University’s ties to slavery. [You can download the app here: yaleandslavery.yale.edu/special-topic-tour-history-slavery.]…

(Read the full article here: https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2024/02/19/yale-releases-history-on-ties-to-slavery-apologizes-and-pledges-list-of-actions/

Please Help PAMAS Create a Documentary Film

Joan Cavanagh, member, Progressives Against Medical Assisted Suicide (PMAS)

Public discussion about the realities of Medical Assisted Suicide (MAS) is critical. The practice is increasingly becoming normalized as a “health care” option and already inadequate safeguards and restrictions in existing laws are eroding.

Progressives Against Medical Assisted Suicide (PAMAS) is fundraising to create a documentary examining this issue in a critical light. We hope our film will add another dimension to a conversation that has thus far been dominated by the religious right (which opposes MAS for its own reasons, which we do not share) and by liberal supporters who discount the disability and social justice arguments against it.

The documentary will be produced by Emmy award-winning filmmaker Karyl Evans, based in North Haven. 100% of all money raised will cover the filmmaker, crew, and associated expenses. Research, writing, organizing, and review will be done by volunteer (unpaid) PAMAS members.

“Better off dead” is the lens through which those of us who are old, disabled, and/or seriously ill are viewed, including by many medical professionals. Combine that prejudice with the for-profit medical system and its corrosive “you don’t want to be a burden” message and you have a lethal mix. Medical Assisted Suicide only opens another avenue for impossible-to-document coercion, neglect, and abuse,
both institutional and personal.

The organizations lobbying most avidly to pass MAS legislation are also hard at work to reduce the limited restrictions and safeguards in the laws that have already been enacted in 11 jurisdictions in the United States: ending state residency requirements; reducing or eliminating waiting periods;
broadening the kinds of medical providers who can prescribe the lethal drugs; and expanding the categories of patients (including those with dementia) who can qualify. Thus, even former supporters have begun to rethink the passage of such laws.

Please consider helping PAMAS present another side to this discussion. Make your check out to Center for Disability Rights.

IMPORTANT: Write “NDY/PAMAS” in the check memo line.

Mail checks to PAMAS, care of Joan Cavanagh
34 Walnut St., Floor 1
New Haven CT 06511

Donations are tax-deductible.

For more information, contact [email protected]. Our website is pamasprogressives.org.

Zoners OK Rosette Mini-Shelters

by Nora Grace-Flood, NH Independent, March 13, 2024

(Read the full article here: www.newhavenindependent.org/article/unhoused_get_relief_from_zoning)

Six backyard emergency shelters built without city approval won zoning relief. …The Rosette Village Collective, a crew of individuals experiencing homelessness and the volunteers helping to house them, made their case during the latest online meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals to legitimize
the six one-room shelters erected last fall … at 203 Rosette St., which first opened up to individuals in need of a place to pitch their tents after the city bulldozed a homeless encampment on Ella Grasso Boulevard last spring and left unhoused individuals unable or uninterested in finding regulated shelter spaces without a place to go. …

While Amistad House is working to pass state legislation that would create zoning pathways for emergency housing, they are, in the meantime, asking to live as an exception to stringent building code rules to let ten otherwise unhoused New Haveners remain in their so-called “tiny homes.” In order to do that, Amistad House requested retroactive zoning relief from the board. …

The application was approved with four conditions: First, only two individuals can reside in each structure at any time. Second, any potential resident is expected to be a direct family member of the first. In addition, no more than the six structures currently on site are allowed to serve as residences. All shelter occupants must maintain access to shared facilities inside Amistad House, including the first floor bathroom and kitchen. And lastly, an easement must be in place for structures that extend beyond the property lines of Rosette Street if Amistad House is sold down the line. …

The application was approved following extensive support from Hill community leaders, next-door neighbors of Amistad House, and testimony from those living in the shelters themselves. …

While the situation might be understood as neighbors doing a favor for Amistad House and those living behind it, those living in the Hill who spoke Tuesday pressed the reality that Amistad is doing a favor for the neighborhood at large. Teachers Union President and Hill resident Leslie Blatteau agreed: “They’re doing the work that community needs to do. They are showing us how it’s done.” …

Mark Colville, co-owner of Amistad House alongside his wife, Luz Catarineau, said: “I would ask the zoning committee to step aside and let this thing go. You need do nothing else but leave it in our hands.”

CT Green Energy News

March 15, 2024

News and events for advocates of clean energy, energy efficiency and climate action at the state and local levels, focusing on Connecticut. Brought to you by People’s Action for Clean Energy (PACE), www.pacecleanergy.org

CT Mirror: Debate over Electric Vehicles in CT “Republicans and Democrats staged a dress rehearsal
Wed. for debates expected on the state House floor next month and in campaigns this fall over how aggressively CT should push zero-emission vehicles to mitigate air pollution and climate change. The venue was a public hearing on House Bill 5485, which would create a 40-member Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Coordinating Council to assess the readiness of the auto market, electric grid and charging infrastructure for a shift to electric vehicles, while not mandating any targets or deadlines.
The Republican minority leaders, Rep. Candelora of North Branford and Sen. Harding of Brookfield opposed the bill in live testimony before the Transportation Committee as a step towards something the measure does not authorize — an eventual ban on gas-powered vehicles.”

Frontier Group: In Praise of Rooftop Solar “Because solar power and other forms of renewable energy supply electricity at near-zero marginal cost, they tend to reduce wholesale electricity prices for consumers. A 2020 study by Synapse Energy Economics estimated that distributed (behind-the-meter) solar reduced wholesale electricity costs by $1.1 billion between 2014 and 2019. Adding in the public health benefits of reduced power plant emissions and the reduced need for electricity generating capacity, they estimated that behind-the-meter solar delivered benefits ranging from 20.5 to 37 cents per kilowatt-hour In New England. That savings figure – which rivals retail electricity prices in the region – is an understatement, since it does not include savings from avoided investments in transmission and distribution infratructure, to which Synapse did not assign a dollar value.

Edie Fishman, July 22, 1921 – Feb. 21, 2024

As we go to press, the PAR Planning Committee has learned that Edie Fishman, lifelong activist and fighter for social justice, has died at the age of 102. Even in her last week, Edie was sharp-witted and knew all the words to union songs, which she sang each evening with her daughter Joelle. Our condolences to Joelle and all who knew and loved Edie. Our April newsletter will have more about this amazing, dedicated and compassionate woman.

Edyth Bartman Fishman was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of immigrants from Odessa in Czarist Russia. Growing up in the years of the Great Depression shaped her worldview. Thousands were hungry and without work. While in high school both parents fell ill but had no health care. Edie and her sister Lillian took turns going to high school every other day so they could care for their parents.

At age 14 Edie attended a large May Day rally of thousands for workers’ rights outside Philadelphia City Hall organized by the Communist Party. Police on horses used billy clubs to attack the peaceful protest. Edie was enraged and decided that she must be part of this movement. She joined the Young Communist League, and later the Communist Party where she became a leader and remained active throughout her life. ​“I love the struggle,” she said.

Edie was involved in countless struggles for workers’ rights and economic and racial equality and peace. She marched to Washington DC for Social Security and Unemployment Compensation with her schoolmates. She participated in defying the sheriffs and putting furniture back into the homes of evicted families. …

Edie’s lifelong commitment and contribution to equality, peace and social justice will be celebrated in Wooster Square Park on Sunday, July 21, the day before her 103rd birthday.

Contributions in tribute to Edie Fishman can be made to the New Haven Peoples Center or to the People’s World at 37 Howe Street, New Haven, Connecticut 06511.

Read more of the Indy obit here.

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