What if Every Person Paid Equal Share of the Military Budget

Posted on: September 11, 2017 at 19:30:05 CT

By Ryan McMaken:

Excerpt:

There is no doubt that $700 billion is a lot of taxpayer money. But just how does this total break down on a per-person basis?

Well, if we divide $700 billion by the 320 million people in the United States, the per-person total comes out to $2,187 dollars. That's for each man, woman, and child.

But that's not the real total. We also need to add in the substantial amounts paid in interest on the debt to service a debt that has largely been run up to finance military spending. To be conservative, let's say that one-fifth of the interest goes toward servicing war debts.1

That brings us up to $2,300 per person, per year.2

Now, of course, these costs are not spread out evenly among all taxpayers. The relatively high-income households pay more than low-income people when it comes to federal taxes.

So, military personnel should especially be thanking higher-income taxpayers for their service.

But, if American were taxed evenly for military costs, that would mean that a family of four would be paying $9,200 per year for "defense." After all, children need military defense, too, and somebody has to pay for it. Why not their parents?

A large family, say one with four children, would be paying $13,800.

Given that the median household income in the United States is $52,000, this is no small amount.

If we're so concerned about Americans knowing that "freedom isn't free" it might be best to move toward a fee-for-service model. In that case, Americans would be acutely aware of how much they're shelling out for the military. On the other hand, were households faced with a $9,000 "defense" bill every year, they might be less inclined to thank someone else for the privilege.

https://mises.org/blog/what-if-every-person-paid-equal-share-military-budget