Cost of Iraq war: $1,075 each

Washington Times
Aug. 25, 2006

The National Priorities Project has calculated the cost of the Iraq war by congressional district, city, state and even household.

You owe $1,075.

The NPP bills itself as a non-partisan, non-profit organization that uses government data to illustrate the impact of federal policies on local communities. It targets large ticket government programs and tax breaks -- mostly dear to Republicans -- for scrutiny, including tax breaks for the top 1 percent of earners, the cost of missile defense, maintaining a massive nuclear weapon arsenal, and the Iraq war.

NPP bases its Iraq war calculations on a Congressional Research Service report from June, which totaled the war at $318.5 billion.

"That is $2,844 for every American household or $1,075 for every American. The money (already spent or allocated) is being spent at a rate $10 million per hour and $244 million per day," according to NPP.

NPP breaks down the cost by state by cross-referencing the amount of federal tax revenues collected there, accurate as of May 2005.

California, the most populous state, has contributed more than $40 billion of that amount, with the notoriously liberal Bay Area contributing more than $10 billion. Los Angeles has contributed a similar amount. New York contributed $28 billion.

Texas, the home state of U.S. President George W. Bush, has been tapped for $26 billion.

Lightly populated Wyoming, home of Vice President Dick Cheney, contributed just $546 million.












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