Where do nuclear weapons fit into your priorities?  April 20, 2023

On tax day, April 18, PSR-Los Angeles launched the Nuclear Weapons Community Cost project. Each April for 34 years, PSR-LA President Dr. Bob Dodge has dived headfirst into all the federal budget numbers to be able to tell American taxpayers the true cost of the entire “nuclear weapons enterprise.” How much does your community pay to support nuclear weapons? It’s more than you think!

Writing in The Hill, Dr. Dodge points out: “Ultimately, ‘Budgets are moral documents,’ as theologian Rev. Jim Wallis has noted. What role do nuclear weapons play in that morality?

According to the Nuclear Weapons Community Cost project, once you add in all the costs we incur for nuclear weapons, including not just weapons and operational expenditures, but also things like debt payments and environmental remediation, the USA will spend over $90 billion in fiscal year 2023 to support nuclear weapons. According to Dodge: “In our report, we include verifiable costs of all nuclear programs that would not be spent if nuclear weapons did not exist.”

But there’s more! Using the Community Costs Calculator, you can “think globally, act locally” by determining the tax burden of nuclear weapons right in your own community. For example, Dr. Dodge calculated that in fiscal year 2023, residents of the city of Los Angeles will pay over one billion tax dollars for nuclear weapons. What about your town? The Costs Calculator also provides what you need to figure out your individual tax contribution toward nuclear weapons. When you do, you’ll see why nuclear weapons are a problem for ALL OF US.

Check it all out here, and spread the word!