Activists gathered at the Eugene downtown post office on Tax Day April 15 “to challenge militarism and to call for the re-ordering of federal spending from supporting war to meeting human and environmental needs,” says Penny Poll organizer Michael Carrigan of Community Alliance of Lane County (CALC).

People were provided the opportunity to voice how they would spend their tax dollars when they took part in the annual Penny Poll. Participants were handed 10 pennies that they deposited in jars representing a five-category breakdown of the federal budget. A counting of pennies indicate 54 percent support for human resources, 24 percent for physical resources, 12 percent for general government, 3 percent for military and 7 percent for paying down the federal debt.

“The results are similar to past years,” Carrigan says. “If Eugene residents ran the federal government, things would be significantly different — their tax dollars would be funding social and environmental programs and not endless war.”

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