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Tax Information from the War Resisters League

Pie Chart Flyers – Where Your Income Tax Money Really Goes

Where Your Income Tax Money Really Goes FY2022

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Perfect for Tax Day leafletting, as a focus for forums and panels and workshops and more!

The  new War Resisters League’s famous “pie chart” flyer, Where Your Income Tax Money Really Goes, analyzes the Federal Fiscal Year 2022 Budget (FY 2022 is 1 October 2021 – 30 September 2022.  This FY2022 issue was published in March 2021.

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, 2020, goes to the federal funds portion of the budget.

HOW THESE FIGURES WERE DETERMINED

These figures are from the FY2022 column in the Analytical Perspectives book of the Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2021, issued last year, as the new budget with Covid relief has yet to be released this year. The figures are Federal funds, which do not include Trust funds — such as Social Security — that are raised and spent separately from income taxes.

What you pay (or don’t pay) by May 17, 2021, goes to the Federal funds portion of the budget. The government practice of combining Trust and Federal funds began during the Vietnam War, thus making the human needs portion of the budget seem larger and the military portion smaller.

Analysts differ on how much of the debt stems from the military; other groups estimate 50% to 60%. We use 80% because we believe if there had been no military spending, most of the national debt would have been eliminated.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Leaflet with this flyer year-round and on Tax Day, May 17, 2021, and during the Global Days of Action on Military Spending, April 13-May 9, demilitarize.org, and year round.

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.

You can also download the flyers and print them locally:

Fiscal Year 2022 (Released March 2021) Pie Chart Flyer
in English, in color (pdf)
in English, black & white (pdf)
in Spanish, in color (pdf)
in Spanish, 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

Discounts applied at check out:

1-199        $.15
200-499    $.12
500 +        $.10

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Job Opening at Neighborhood Housing Services

Neighborhood Housing Services is looking for a Resource Development Specialist. In this position, the Specialist is responsible for identifying and securing new grant opportunities and maintaining existing partnerships, event sponsorships, individual donations, and in-kind donations to fund/support the programs and initiatives at Neighborhood Housing Services and the New Haven HomeOwnership Center.

NHSNH requires that the applicant has a bachelor’s degree (B.A.) in English, Marketing, Public Relations, Communications, or a related field; plus two (2) or more years’ experience in grant writing and/or fundraising.

For additional details about skills requirements and how to apply for the position, see the job posting on Idealist: https://www.idealist.org/en/nonprofit-job/ec42ed20c56c49ed9ca4e3090a54f58a-resource-development-specialist-neighborworks-affiliates-new-haven.

COVID-19 Vaccine Information

By now, we hope PAR readers know that residents 65 years of age and older can get the COVID-19 vaccine. As of this printing, eligibility will shortly be given to front-line workers and people with underlying health conditions. Please call 2-1-1 for updated COVID-19 information. As we said last month, we want all of our readers to continue to wear masks and observe the recommended 6-feet anti-social distance guidelines. It won’t be for too much longer. Remember, it’s better to be patient than to be a patient.

You can get an appointment online or by phone.

To register online, please visit the Vaccine Administration Management System (VAMS) at https://dphsubmissions.ct.gov/OnlineVaccine. When accepted into the registration portal, you will receive emails detailing the next steps necessary in the scheduling process.

To register by phone, please call (877) 918-2224 during weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
You can also call the City of New Haven Health Department at (203) 639-2245, and Yale New Haven Health at (833) ASK-YNHH [(833) 275-9644)].

For more information on Coronavirus and the vaccine, visit: https://portal.ct.gov/coronavirus. Or call the CT Virtual Assistant: (833) 250-7633. For those who are deaf or hard of hearing, please use 7-1-1 for relay services.

Scholarships Available for New Haven High School Seniors

New Haven high school seniors going on to college or technical school are invited to apply for financial help through the New Haven Scholarship Fund. The Fund, which has been around more than 60 years, has begun taking applications for this year’s batch of scholarships.

To see if you qualify and to apply, go to www.newhavenscholarshipfund.org. On the Subscription Information tab, click on “How to Apply.”

“No country has suffered the way the United States has. Americans make up less than 5% of the global population, but account for nearly one in five of the world’s 2.3 million deaths. […] If the nation is serious about learning the lessons from this pandemic, it should reconsider implementing a universal health care plan like Medicare for All.” ~ from the Medicare for All CT Facebook page

Employment Opportunity: New Haven Community Organizer — Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids & Others

Connecticut’s state director for the flavored-tobacco-product ban campaign (aka flavor-ban campaign) is interviewing (remotely) candidates for the role of campaign community manager for New Haven.  The consortium is a collaboration between the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Cancer Society Action Network, the American Heart Association, and the American Lung Association. If you or someone you know has an interest and/or questions, please contact ASAP:

Peter D. Spain, MPH (YSPH CDE)
2020-2021 State Director for the Flavored-Tobacco-Products Ban
in collaboration with Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, and the American Lung Association
Bridgeport, CT
(203) 212-6238
[email protected]

Project timeline:

Now through June 2021. 20 to 30 hours a week. $30 to $45 an hour, depending on what the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids determines about the person’s experience and relationships in the community and at the local and state level.

The ideal candidate for this position will:

1.     Have a passion for public health, science-based preventive health policies, and addressing the persistent inequality in our systems and the need for more just and equitable policies — at the community, state, and national level.
2.     Be well-respected by community leaders and policymakers in New Haven and also by one or more members of the New Haven state delegation.

This would need a real community-rooted education and advocacy movement, in short order, to encourage the city leaders, including the Health Director, and State Reps and Senators to back such a comprehensive ban for your city and the state.

CitySeed Employment Openings: Details and Applications at cityseed.org

Food Entrepreneurship Program Manager: seeking a dynamic and driven Food Entrepreneurship Program Manager with food business experience to coordinate CitySeed Incubates, our food business incubation programming and services. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Sanctuary Kitchen Dishwasher/Kitchen Support: seeking dedicated, organized dishwasher/kitchen support person to join a team in a fast-paced culinary environment.

Sanctuary Kitchen Catering Intern: Sanctuary Kitchen has several internship positions available for Fall, Spring, and Summer Semesters!

Sales & Outreach Intern, Marketing Intern, and Culinary Operations Intern
Sanctuary Kitchen is happy to work with college or course instructors to fulfill credits or requirements.
CitySeed Farmers Market Intern: Seeking applicants who are enthusiastic about sustainable agriculture and food justice in New Haven, and want to learn while working at Farmers Markets. The position includes set up and break down of tables and tents, selling bread and tokens, handling money and credit/debit/SNAP cards and promoting market programs. For more information or to apply, please email [email protected] with your resume attached.

Volunteers are also always welcome and needed. Go to the volunteer section at cityseed.org fill out an application.

The Friends of Kensington Playground – Update

Jane Comins, Friends of Kensington Playground

Our efforts to save Dwight’s Kensington Playground from development continue.  Through our lawyer, we have provided the City of New Haven with several nearby alternative building sites. HUD and the CT Housing Finance Authority have acknowledged the complaints that we submitted under federal historic preservation and environmental protection law, and have asked the State Historic Preservation Office and the City of New Haven to review them. Thanks to those who donated. We are up against a national corporation.  Please donate. To learn more and donate, visit: https://www.kensingtonplayground.org.

Grants Available for Environmental Projects

by Lynne Bonnett, President, Greater New Haven Green Fund

The Greater New Haven Green Fund requests proposals for grants up to $10,000 for 2021. Community groups are encouraged to apply whether or not they have a non-profit status with the Internal Revenue Service. Please check our website www.gnhgreenfund.org for the step-by-step guide to our online application followed by information you will need to complete it. It is due Friday, Jan. 22, 2021 by 5 p.m.

If you have any questions or concerns after reviewing the information please contact us at [email protected].

Excerpts from Sen. Chris Murphy’s COVID-19 Weekly Update, Nov. 20, 2020

PURA has extended the enrollment period for programs to prevent heat source shut-offs for both residential and non-residential customers through at least Feb. 9, 2021. Further, the Winter Protection Program, which protects eligible households during the winter months, is also in effect from Nov. 1, 2020 through May 1, 2021. If you are experiencing difficulty paying your utility bill, you can contact your utility company and ask if you are eligible to be “coded hardship” and enrolled in the Winter Protection Program. If you are ineligible for hardship status or a non-residential customer, ask to enroll in a COVID-19 Payment Plan.

For information on federal coronavirus relief, including help for small businesses, direct cash payments and more, visit murphy.senate.gov/coronavirus. This page provides answers to frequently asked questions and gives a summary of available programs and funding.

For the latest information about keeping you or your family safe go to cdc.gov/coronavirus. For resources and information about Connecticut’s response visit ct.gov/coronavirus.

Alert: Pandemic Protocol at Yale New Haven Health Restricts Life-Saving Efforts for Some Patients

The PAR newsletter has received a copy of the “Yale New Haven Health Resuscitation Protocol for the COVID-19 Pandemic,” updated and issued to all medical staff on November 12. It was accompanied by the following comments.

Couched in vague language open to wide interpretation, this memorandum’s overall point is clear: even if critical care patients and/or their representatives desire intervention such as resuscitation or intubation, or have not yet made their wishes known, they may nevertheless be assigned “Do Not Resuscitate/Do Not Intubate” status by agreement of “two or more physicians.” While patient wishes, or those of their advocates, are to be “considered” if they can be “obtained,” the system is not bound to honor them, and is unlikely to do so if they contradict practitioners’ assessments.

It is stated that one reason to limit (or prohibit) cardiopulmonary resuscitation of “critically ill patients with COVID-19” is to avoid “exposing health care workers to high risk of infectious transmission,” a laudable goal on the face of it. Health care workers have been truly heroic in doing their jobs during this pandemic under terrible conditions. But they know that theirs is not a no- or even low-risk job. And PPE including face shields and masks are more available now than they were in the earliest days. Meanwhile, people go to the emergency room and to the hospital seeking critical care, believing in good faith that they will receive it. Are they to be denied that care because providing it has become too risky? And are people now required to merely accept the judgment of doctors they may never even have met, knowing the health care system is under serious economic pressure to have fewer, less critically ill patients?

The memo states that, in addition to this “system-wide notice,” “ the YNHHS Chief Clinical Officer, in collaboration with the YNHHS Chief Executive Officer and YNHHS Senior Vice President and General Counsel…shall determine an appropriate manner of notifying the public, patients and other stakeholders.” (Emphasis added.)

Since this is an update of a memo originally circulated in April which, to our knowledge, was never made available for public comment or scrutiny, PAR decided its readers should learn about this in a timely manner. Feel free to email us for a copy of the full memo at [email protected].

Job Openings at Save the Sound

For information about these jobs, visit the website savethesound.org, go to the “About Us” tab, and click on “Jobs & RFPs.”

Clean Water Advocate (full-time, NY)
Ecological Communications Specialist (part-time, CT)
Lands Communications Specialist (part-time, CT)

We’re also currently reviewing applications received for the Climate Advocate, NY Ecological Restoration Program Manager, and Peter B. Cooper Legal Fellow. If you’ve been planning to apply for one of those openings, please get your materials in soon!

New Haven Peace Council Webinar on Syria from Damascus Friday Nov. 20

Please join the Peace Council’s upcoming webinar that updates the war on Syria and the vast propaganda campaign that promotes that war.

Join the free Webinar with independent journalist Vanessa Beeley from Damascus on Friday November 20, 4:00 PM Eastern for an update on the shooting, propaganda and economic war on Syria.

There are many advocates for US Imperialist aggression against the sovereignty of the Syrian people. They perpetuate the lies of the State Department and align themselves with the ultimate goal of overthrowing and replacing the Syrian government with a US puppet.

Yet a wealth of information exposes the details and personnel behind the policies that continue to bring such suffering to the Syrian people. This at a time when the Syrian people are successfully regaining their sovereignty and destiny.

Donald Trump’s and the United States’ credentials as humanitarian are pretty thin as the devastated peoples of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Yemen, among others, would affirm. In its war to overthrow the Syrian government and replace it with a puppet regime, the US helped create and fund the White Helmets whose “links to extremist Salafi-jihadist groups, including ISIS and al-Qaeda, have been thoroughly documented. What’s more, the group has participated in recent Turkish onslaughts in northern Syria where Kurds and other minority groups faced ethnic cleansing.”

“Between 2013 and 2016, USAID donated at least $23 million to the group. The governments of Britain, France, Canada, the Netherlands, and Japan added tens of millions more to this substantial ‘humanitarian’ regime-change slush fund.”
https://thegrayzone.com/2019/10/28/trump-million-syria-jihadist-white-helmets

Join the free Webinar with independent journalist Vanessa Beeley from Damascus on Friday November 20, 4:00 PM Eastern for an update on the shooting, propaganda and economic war on Syria.

Attached is a flier with registration for the Webinar on Syria Friday, Nov. 20 at 4:00 PM Eastern.

Peace /\ Justice

Henry Lowendorf
Greater New Haven Peace Council
With the Hands Off Syria Coalition

PAR looking for writer

PAR readers:

The Progressive Action Roundtable is looking for someone who knows how to write clearly and has a good command of spelling and grammar.

This person must also be interested in talking to local organizers about their groups and plans, and writing a couple of short (up to 300-word) articles for the monthly (except for July and August) PAR newsletter. A small stipend will be available. If interested, please contact Paula with a writing sample at [email protected].

Thank you!

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