This Year’s Tax Day Penny Poll in Arcata Showed Overwhelming Support for Social Programs Instead of Military Spending
Photo and information provided by the Tax Day Penny Poll people.
About 200 people participated in the annual Tax Day Penny Poll held April 15 outside the North Coast Co-op in Arcata. This offered a fun, if non-scientific, snapshot of how local residents would prefer federal tax dollars be allocated.
Participants were each given ten pennies to distribute among ten categories representing major areas of government spending. The results show a striking contrast with current federal priorities. While the federal government allocates more than half of its discretionary budget to the military, participants in Arcata directed just 1% of their pennies to that category.
Instead, the bulk of the pennies went toward domestic programs. Education and the environment each received about 20% of the total, followed closely by health at 19%. Housing and social services also saw strong support, receiving 11% and 10% respectively.
Organizers noted that the overall distribution forms what they describe as an “inverted image” of federal spending priorities, with local participants emphasizing funding for basic needs and environmental protection over military expenditures.
The Penny Poll is held annually in communities across the country, and organizers say the results consistently show a preference for increased investment in social programs compared to current federal budget allocations.
Earlier: Arcata Tax Day Penny Poll Invites Public to Weigh In on Federal Spending
Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules
Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/
Yea we get it Arcata is a hippy town,peace love and no war man.,unfortunately in the real world other countries would love to topple us or even invade us if they think they could win.Keeping our military a priority is a nesseccity for our survival and I would never expect another person to risk their lives to defend any one of us with inadequate or substandard gear.
And then we have the local TAXes, all of it going to social justice scams. But take your poll from a bias population and all will look good for the progressive politicians ruining our towns.
Yes, social justice scams ike feeding and educating children and elders and providing healthcare like the rest of the civilized world. What a racket
No, like defending illegal aliens, and a hundred other stupid ass money wasters that take away money from programs that help those truly in need. And then, maybe some biopic fools would just go away.
No, the farming of taxpayer to supply what makes their life harder, to pay for those who are the ones making it harder is the scam. That is not identical with elders and children and it is delusional to think that “the rest of the civilized world” provides “health care” to anyone who shows up on their doorstep or even themselves. Even accepting the idea that “civilized” requires equal access,
“As of 2025 there is no European country that offers full, unrestricted national healthcare to all undocumented migrants; most countries restrict entitlements to emergency care, infectious disease treatment, or certain groups and leave broader access to regional or municipal discretion.”
https://factually.co/fact-checks/health/europe-countries-full-unrestricted-healthcare-undocumented-migrants-2025-7bd15b
No other country is going to topple or invade us.
In more than 200 years, no one has even tried.
As usual you are wrong. England in 1812. But that was a little over 200 years ago. LOL. Then we have Stalins cccp programs to infiltrate the west. Chicoms are building military machine to fight us. Iran for years has been threatening and attacking our assets in other countries. And then there’s this conspiracy that Iran tried to assassinate Trump a few times and somehow they are involved with that.
The comedy stylings of Mr. C!
The world class pettifogging of Jebs. Heaven knows it’s the left who keeps insisting that Russia tried to get Trump elected. Pretty much framing it as attempts to topple the US government.
Actually the Japanese occupied land in the Aleutian Islands after they bombed Pearl Harbor. The US has had territory disputes with both Canada and Mexico were invasion of the disputed territories occurred. Any time a US embassy has been taken over I suppose that qualifies as an invasion too.
It isn’t because the US is so beloved by the rest of the world who has no territorial ambitions of their own that other invasions haven’t happened. No one is really safe from other countries’ military. China is pretty invested in territorial expansion right now and Russia is actively trying to recreate its Soviet hegemony. It’s because the US has the military to stop it that such delusional thinking as that last comment can even exist.. Believing that it is otherwise is just magical thinking.
Oh my. A lot to unpack here.
The very much proven to be true Russian interference in US elections was indeed subversive, but it’s quite the stretch to claim this was an attempt to topple or invade the United States.
Canada, of course, has never invaded the United States.
True, when it was part of Britain, it was used as a launching point for British forces in the War of 1812. But as even Mr. C was astute enough to notice, that was over 200 years ago.
Mexico also has never invaded the United States. They did, in the 1840s, attack US troops who were stationed in disputed territory that Mexico claimed as theirs. But it would be ridiculous to claim that to be an attempt to invade or topple the United States. Besides, wasn’t it the United States who used that as a pretext for actually invading Mexico and annexing a half million square miles of their territory?
It’s also true that Pancho Villa attacked a town about three miles inside US territory. But he was neither acting on behalf of the Mexican Government, nor was his action part of any sort of an effort to invade the United States as a whole or to topple its government.
Then there was the Irish guy flying an airplane on behalf of Mexican rebels who accidently dropped a suitcase bomb on the Arizona side of the border. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Naco
The Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and their diversionary attack in the Aleutians was also not part of any effort to topple the government or to stage a wholescale invasion.
And although China has been reasserting its claims territory they say has historically been theirs, they have never expressed any desire, let alone ability, to invade the United States.
But, as long as we have people going around making the claim that we are under constant threat, then the government will have no problem convincing us to shell out nearly a trillion dollars a year– and soon to be much, much more, in order to “defend” ourselves from these imagined threats.
Ok, now do the same poll outside of a Home Depot or grocery store next to a military base. I guarantee those numbers will be different. This is localized polling data and should not be used as representation of everything else. It’s a loaded sampling.
It’s what people right there want, which I’m sure is their genuine concerns, but not necessarily what everyone else agrees with.
Gee. Super scientific polling.
How about the governments set a GoFundMe for each department and municipality and then we can really see where people want their money to go.
It’s not like any other result was possible. It was a performance advertised on this site.
I would rather my tax dollars go to send that guy to Venezuela where he can be happy, and leave our flags alone
The hippy co-op says they oppose military spending?