| COALITION
FOR PEACE ACTION RELEASES RESULTS OF TAX DAY "PENNY POLL" ON
FEDERAL BUDGET PRIORITIES
The Princeton-based Coalition for Peace Action today announced
the results of its Penny Poll of how taxpayers mailing their
federal tax returns on April 15, the filing deadline, would like
to see their tax dollars spent.
The Penny Poll was conducted from 12 noon until 1:30 PM on April
15 in front of the Palmer Square Post Office in downtown Princeton.
As people approached the Post Office, they were invited to express
their opinion on how they would like their federal tax dollar to
be spent.
Each of the 107 participants were given ten pennies and asked
to distribute them between 5 tubes representing categories of federal
spending: education, environment, health care, housing, and pre-emptive
strikes. The results are below.
s
Category |
Number of Pennies |
Percentage |
Education |
325 |
30% |
Health Care |
265 |
24% |
Environment |
240 |
21% |
Housing |
195 |
18% |
Military |
61 |
6% |
Participants were then handed a fact sheet showing that 30% of
the Bush Administrations proposed Discretionary Budget for FY2006
is for military spending. Discretionary spending is what Congress
can allocate for what it chooses each year, as distinct from entitlements.
The fact sheet also showed that relatively small amounts go for
education (2%), environment (4%), and health care (6%)in contradiction
to what most expressed as their spending priorities.
This years results remain consistent with
results from over many years. Each poll has consistently shown
that taxpayers want
more of their hard-earned tax dollars going to education and health
care, and far less to military purposes.
A recent scientific poll indicates that the majority of Americans
agree with these priorities. Conducted by the Program on International
Policy Attitudes (PIPA) associated with the University of Maryland,
the nationwide poll of 1,182 Americans was conducted on February
18-25.
The poll results indicated that on average, Americans want to
reduce military spending by 31% (nearly $134 billion). In contrast,
they wanted to increase education spending by 39%; Energy Conservation
and renewable energy by a whopping 1,090%; and job training and
employment by 263%. More information can be found by going to www.pipa.org
and clicking on the second item in the middle column under Latest
Studies.
For years, many of us had assumed that
we who advocated for a more peace-oriented economy were a minority.
This scientific poll
dramatically demonstrates that we, and participants in our Penny
Poll, represent a large majority. Most Americans strongly disagree
with the Bush Administration's budget priorities, and want spending
on domestic need increased while decreasing the military budget.
We encourage citizens to contact their elected representatives
and demand change in our federal budget that is in line with how
we, the taxpayers, want our hard-earned taxes spent, said the
Rev. Robert Moore, executive director of the Coalition.
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