The headlines seem hard to navigate these days; change not just day to day but within the day. It has been difficult to keep track of all the different agencies getting cut, Health and Human Services this week, Education last week and FEMA while witnessing a new catastrophe weekly as a result of the climate crisis. The consistent theme of the Trump Administration has been that of chaos. The first day of Trump’s second term began a freeze on vital services provided by the government. Since that time there have been mass firings of government employees, slashing of budgets and removal of heads of government agencies. One area of government that has seen an increase of funding is the Defense budget which has gone up with every administration in recent decades.
What has been called ‘The Big Beautiful Bill’ is set to create the largest transfer of wealth with $1.7 trillion cut in mostly in domestic spending while creating $1.5 trillion in tax breaks largely for the wealthy. The bill proposes defunding vital services that will deprive people of health care, access to food through the SNAP program, addictions services, and housing assistance for veterans among others. The privatization of public services has been happening for some time in the US yet this bill will exacerbate the process.
Projected FY 2026 Pie Chart from War Resisters League
The Department of Defense that receives close to half of US taxpayer money annually. The Costs of War Project estimates that from 2020 to 2024 private military contractors received 54% of the Pentagon spending. Another increase in militarization in this bill is the increase of funding toward ICE from $8 billion to $28 billion. The Department of Homeland Security will be one of the largest funded federal agencies with a proposed budget of $170 billion over the next 4 years. Some of that money will be going towards private prisons like Core-Civic and the Geo group to house people as well as sending others to Alligator Alcatraz and foreign countries that they have no connections to including South Sudan and Eswatini in Africa. The bill also earmarks $46 billion for the Border Wall, $25 billion for the Golden Dome Missile Defense and $14.7 billion to modernize the US nuclear arsenal on the 80th anniversary of the first nuclear explosion in New Mexico.
The scale and rate of deaths worldwide will be much greater as the Trump administration has nearly eliminated the US AID program that provides resources to counter famine and disease amongst other life saving programs. It has been estimated that 300,000 deaths have occurred already this year as a result of cuts to US AID programs. Many public services have been privatized as well as the militarized as evidenced by the creation of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The organization run by former military personnel solely in charge of providing food for the over 2 million residents of Gaza has also killing 875 people seeking food.
The destruction that appears to be on the horizon that will ripple out to the wider world does not seem to satisfy this administration that seems hell bent on destruction. They are going after money already allocated by Congress. Trump has requested to rescind $8.3 billion in foreign aid to curtail famine and disease as well as $1.1 billion in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
A billion here a billion there and pretty soon it adds up to real money. All of this also adds up to a billion reasons to refuse to pay for the harm caused by our tax dollars. While war tax resistance is a concrete action away from supporting our collective destruction, redirection helps support life enhancement in our communities and ripples outward. The impact of our redirected taxes are lifelines for many grassroots organizations that provide hope. We are 6 months into this administration, consider upping the ante by withholding more money from the war machine by preparing for Tax Day 2026 today, purchasing the new War Resisters League war tax resistance guidebook to gift to a friend and joining NWTRCC’s social hour this Sunday to share your thoughts on organizing in these times.
Post by Chrissy Kirchhoefer
