Are we paying too much to the military?

[Further]

I just searched "how much money goes to the military " and found several articles from 2009 to 2011 that say that 53%-54% of our taxes go towards the military.

I can't really find a very reliable source, but there are a bunch of lesser known sites that give the incredible result that over half of our taxes go towards the military.

That just seems like a heck of a lot.

 

[BrianFromWA]

it's a kind of accounting. Military budget was ~570B, and personal income revenues were 1.1B, so by that math, they're right.

You could also say that 70% of your taxes go to paying for the difference between what Medicare revenue brings in, and what gets paid out.

You could also say that 20% of your taxes go to paying the interest on the federal debt.

You could also say that military spending is >15% of the federal budget, and >5% of GDP. Both are historical lows

 

[Further]

Found this on Wikipedia



Budget Breakdown for 2012

Defense-related expenditure
2012 Budget request & Mandatory spending[18][19] Calculation[20][21]

DOD spending $707.5 billion Base budget + "Overseas Contingency Operations"

FBI counter-terrorism $2.7 billion At least one-third FBI budget.

International Affairs $5.6–$63.0 billion At minimum, foreign arms sales. At most, entire State budget

Energy Department, defense-related $21.8 billion

Veterans Affairs $70.0 billion

Homeland Security $46.9 billion

NASA, satellites $3.5–$8.7 billion Between 20% and 50% of NASA's total budget

Veterans pensions $54.6 billion

Other defense-related mandatory spending $8.2 billion

Interest on debt incurred in past wars $109.1–$431.5 billion Between 23% and 91% of total interest

Total Spending $1.030–$1.415 trillion

 

[MARIS61]

it's a kind of accounting. Military budget was ~570B, and personal income revenues were 1.1B, so by that math, they're right.

You could also say that 70% of your taxes go to paying for the difference between what Medicare revenue brings in, and what gets paid out.

You could also say that 20% of your taxes go to paying the interest on the federal debt.

You could also say that military spending is >15% of the federal budget, and >5% of GDP. Both are historical lows

Bottom line is 100% of your taxes eventually end up in the pockets of the 1%.