In spite of claims that military spending creates jobs, much of the money spent on the military never makes it back to the States. NPP's findings, based on recently released federal spending data, show that 32 states pay more in taxes for the military than they receive back in military spending.

NPP also offers state rankings and breakdowns that show what each state received to fund education, food and nutrition and the Environmental Protection Agency as compared to military spending, along with a breakdown of total expenditures by state compared to taxes paid. Spending data at state and county levels for dozens of federal spending programs from 1983-2005 is also available at The NPP Database.

On a separate note, we have updated our trade-offs-page to show what the proposed new war spending levels for Fiscal Year 2008 could buy your state or congressional district in a host of other local services such as health care for kids, affordable housing units or university scholarships.

With the latest Bush Administration's request, the total war spending in fiscal year 2008 would be nearly $200 billion, with the vast majority going towards the Iraq War. If Congress passes this proposal, total Iraq War spending would rise to$611 billion. NPP has updated its website to include:

an analysis and breakdown of total fiscal year 2008 war spending; a breakdown by state, county and city of Iraq War costs under proposed FY08 spending; a breakdown by state, county and city of Iraq War costs thus far; and updated "trade-offs" by state and congressional district, showing what the money spent on the Iraq War could buy each area in local services such as health care for kids, university scholarships and affordable housing. Bring these numbers to your Congresspeople, governors, mayors and fellow citizens to help bring an end to wasted tax dollars and lost lives.