If not on the military, then what?

With regard to withholding military taxation such that it is spent on something else, a common challenge is “On what?

On the Beeb news it says “Australia bushfires: Fundraiser reaches A$20m in 48 hours“.  The Australian government spends that much on their military every 8½ hours.

That story also says “Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called up 3,000 reserve troops to help“.  That is 3.7% of their armed forces.  15% of their reserves (i.e. civilians being called away from their day jobs) and 0% of their active personnel.

If 3.7% of the Australian military budget was permanently re-allocated to fire prevention (as opposed to ‘Oh shit, the whole country is on fire, maybe we ought to act now‘), it would provide AUS$765,000,000 annually.  Nearly 40 times what has been raised from charitable giving to help save the country.

Australia spends just over AUS$1,000 per capita on militarisation.  The fundraiser is equivalent to 20,000 people’s military expenditure, about 0.078% of the population.  Military expenditure is 1.9% of GDP and 5.1% of government spending.

Perhaps Australia should spend a bit less on battle tanks and a bit more on the land they drive around on.  The Leopard tanks they had from 1976 to 2007 were never used.  They currently have 59 M1A1 Abrams tanks; these have also never been used.  They would like to increase that to 90.  Each one costs about AUS$13m.  Just ⅔rds of a fund-raiser each.

I’ve fallen for it again

Every year in January, at some point, I remember I need to update the “Global military spending so far this year” calculator on the Conscience web site to reset it.  So I check the web site, see it is clearly more than a year’s expenditure, go into the code and realise I don’t need to change it.  It changes automatically.

Globally we have already spent nearly £17,000,000,000 on the military.

Countries who will have already spent more than £17,000,000,000 on their own so far this year, in decreasing spend order:

  • USA
  • China
  • Saudi Arabia
  • India
  • France
  • Russia
  • UK
  • Germany
  • Japan
  • Korea, South
  • Italy
  • Brazil
  • Australia

I’m sure you can think of your own reasons how some of those countries could be spending their money elsewhere.  Such as Australia, which is currently on fire.

Incidentally, last year Iran spent about £10,200,000,000 on their military, 2.7% of GDP, so only slightly more than NATO countries are expected to ‘contribute’.  (The term ‘contribute’ is used in the context of NATO as it is, presumably, some sort of charity.)

<Sigh>.  Starting another New Year appalled at the waste.

A History of Britain in Numbers

A History of Britain in Numbers, Episode 2 ‘State Makes War’: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b052j579

“For a great part of Britain’s history, was the principal link people had with the state to die for it and to be taxed for the expense?”

Andrew Dilnot, chair of the UK Statistics Authority, 2012-2017

This programme was about the ‘fiscal military state‘.

18th century state spending on defence and war debt: 6 to 7% of GDP.  On all other state expenditure: 2% of GDP.  Over ⅔rds of national income was spent on defence, about the same as in ancient Rome.

During the Napoleonic Wars, %age of GDP spent on warfare: about 30%.  On everything else, about 2%.

Spending on the military during the reign of Queen Victoria, when Britain sustained an empire, 2 to 3% (about £16,000,000 in 1850, equivalent to £1,500,000,00 today).  Currently is is still 2 to 3%, but GDP has increased to about 25 times as much as it was in 1850.

 

 

 

 

Earliest known war tax resisters

I know papers and articles have been written about the history of conscientious objection to military taxation, or war tax resistance.  I keep promising myself I will read them sometime.  Having done so I would have been able to better respond to a Facebook post from the USA’s National War Tax resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC).  This arrogant attitude of the Americans that they were the first or only people on Earth is tiresome.  The post was:

#DIDYOUKNOW the #Indigenous Algonquin People are the earliest known #war tax resisters. In 1637 they refused to pay #taxes put on by the Dutch #colonizers to help improve the local colonial fort — War Resisters League War Resisters League // #heros #mondaymotivation #resist #endwar #peace

I find it hard to accept they were the first in the world.

They are probably the earliest in North America since Europeans arrived.  I’ll bet there were South American people who objected to Spanish taxation prior to that. And probably people who objected to taxation by the Incas or Aztecs that funded their expansionism.

In England, the Magna Carta came about because of war tax resistance in the 1200s.

But I should think there are examples from Roman Empire times if not earlier.  Expecting conquered people to pay for the armies that suppress them or that are passing through is a very old trick.

Even Sun-Tzu in Art of War says long campaigns fail because they result in losing people’s support, typically when military taxation reaches about 70%, and he was a historian writing about events from before his time of 2½ thousand years ago.

But it made me reflect on this in today’s context.  Using terminology from English law, military taxation is ‘demanding money with menaces’.

No reduction in defence spending until at least June 2022

As part of Theresa May’s £1 billion deal to buy the support of the DUP so she can stay in power, defence spending will be at least maintained until the next general election.

Link: www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2017-40245514

So there’s not much point campaigning for any kind of reduction for the next four or five years.

Specifically: “On defence, the parties have said they will ensure they meet the NATO commitment of spending two per cent of GDP on the armed forces, as well as committing to the Armed Forces Covenant. They will also look at ways to support reserve forces in Northern Ireland.”  UK GDP is just over £2,000,000 million, 2% of that is about £40,000,000,000 or about £750,000,000 per week.

Note that it is 2% of the Gross Domestic Product which is the entire output of the economy, not 2% of the tax income, nor 2% of government expenditure.