The Nation - News from Aug. 25, 1986

The armed forces are costing the nation’s agricultural counties $12 billion more than the federal government returns to them through defense jobs and farm programs, according to Employment Research Associates, a nonprofit organization that analyzed the economic impact of military spending. The Lansing, Mich., group said it found that the 25 major farm states had a Pentagon tax burden of $163.1 billion in fiscal 1985, $36.3 billion more than the $126.8 billion those states received through military expenditures. It said that 97% of the major farm counties pay more in military-related taxes than the Pentagon spends in them.