How much do we spend on the Department of Defense in 20o4 and 2005. 
Whaat percentage of our tax revenue does that represent?

Hello dannycaulfield,

Thank you for your very interesting question. I didn't realize prior
to this that the military took up so much of the entire US budget.

In 2005, tax revenues were $972 billion.

In 2005, the defense budget was $401.7 billion.

In 2004, tax revenues were $722 billion.

In 2004, the defense budget was $379.898 billion.

This means that the 2004 defense budget took up 52.62 percent of the
total US tax payments. In 2005, the defense budget took up 41.33
percent of tax revenues.

Sources:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2005/defense.html
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2004/defense.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/09/washington/09econ.html?ei=5088&en=ec2d242da8699725&ex=1310097600&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

Search terms:
dept of defense spending 2004
2005 tax revenue trillion

If you need any additional help or clarifications, let me know and
I'll be glad to help!

Cheers,
--keystroke-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by dannycaulfield-ga on 17 Sep 2006 19:56 PDT

Can you tell me Dept of Labor budget from same sources/  If so I would
appreciate.  Thanks for the answer

---

Clarification of Answer by keystroke-ga on 17 Sep 2006 21:37 PDT

Hi dannycaulfield,

The Department of Labor budget for 2004 was: $60 billion.
For 2005, it was: $57.3 billion.

Source:
http://www.dol.gov/_sec/budget2005/overview.pdf

Search terms:
dept of labor budget

--keystroke-ga

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Clarification of Answer by keystroke-ga on 18 Sep 2006 07:38 PDT

Here are the updated figures:

2005 revenues: $2.15 trillion
defense spending:  $401.7 billion
19.94 percent of spending


2004 revenues: $1.88 trillion
defense spending: $379.898 billion
34.92 percent

Source:
http://www.cbo.gov/budget/historical.pdf#search=%222005%20total%20tax%20revenues%22

Search terms:
2005 total tax revenue

--keystroke-ga

Here's an interesting take on the U.S. defense budget, by Freeman
Dyson: http://www.umich.edu/news/index.html?DysonWinCom05

"So lastly my third heresies, I say the United States has less than a
century left as top nation. Since the modern nation-state was
invented, about the year 1500, a succession of countries has taken
turns as top nation. First it was Spain, then France, then and
Britain, than America. Each term lasted about 150 years. Ours began in
1920 so it should end in about 2070.

The reason why each top nation's term comes to an end is that the top
nation becomes overextended militarily, economically and politically.
Greater and greater efforts are required to maintain the number one
position. Finally, the overextension becomes so extreme that the whole
structure collapses. Already we can see in the American posture today
some clear symptoms of overextension.

Who will be the next top nation? It might be the European Union or it
might be China. After that it might be India or Brazil. You should be
asking yourself not how to live in an America dominated world, but how
to prepare for a world that is not America dominated. That may be the
most important problem for your generation to solve. How do the people
who think of themselves as number one yield gracefully to become
number two? So I'm telling you misfortunes are on the way."

Jeepers Cripes!  That's a hug-ass percentage!  Way to go, W!

It is indeed a "huge-a~~" percentage, and it is also an incorrect
percentage (unless you don't consider corporate taxes, social
security, and excise tax revenues as tax revenues).

The real numbers are:
In 2005, tax revenues were $2.2 trillion.
Spending on National Defense: $495 billion
23%

In 2004, tax revenues were $1.9 trillion.
Spending on National Defense: $456 billion
24%

And for a historical perspective, here are some other years:
In 2000, tax revenues were $2.0 trillion
Spending on National Defense: $294 billion
15%

In 1995, tax revenues were $1.4 trillion.
Spending on National Defense: $272 billion
19%

In 1990, tax revenues were $1.0 trillion.
Spending on National Defense: $300 billion
30%

In 1985, tax revenues were $734 billion.
Spending on National Defense: $253 billion
35%

In 1980, tax revenues were $517 billion.
Spending on National Defense: $134 billion
26%

In 1975, tax revenues were $279 billion.
Spending on National Defense: $87 billion
31%

Revenues & National Defense #s from:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2007/pdf/hist.pdf

Imagine that, the White House contradicting itself???



Actually, yes, the White House indeed must have just talking about
personal income taxes in that New York Times article (although they
didn't say that they were). I will update the figures to accurately
reflect the change!

Keep in mind these are budgeted figures.  Actual spending has been
higher since for several years Bush has called for additional
supplemental military spending.  The latest "emergency" (apparently
that we are in Iraq is still a surprise) spending bill (2/2006) called
for an additional $72.4 billion in military and intelligence
appropriations.

I was wondering why there was a discrepency between my national
defense numbers and Keystroke's military numbers...

It is probably either the supplemental or that the national defense
numbers include DoD yet non-military funding (perhaps homeland
security, intelligence...)