Originally Posted by Eggplant Jeff
k71021, I've never heard of it put in those terms, and in fact I think it would be fairly difficult to quantify. Obviously we have a large presence in the middle east, (larger in the last few years) and someone somewhere in the Army could probably give us the total cost of that presence in salary, consumables (bullets, food, etc), depreciation (how many years can you drive a hummer in the desert before it is worn out?) etc. Then divide that by the number of gallons of gas we import from the middle east, but even that wouldn't be a really accurate number.
The military expenditure is done in order to keep supply available, which keeps prices down. So saying how much of the gas price is paying the army isn't really a valid question. The answer is probably "none". I think most gas taxes are for local governments and mostly for highway department budgets and stuff.
Thanks Eggplant Jeff, but that was not my question. Sorry for not asking it clearly enough. I meant how much of an American’s income taxes, corporate taxes, et cetera that go into the pentagon’s coffers are spent on “… keep
ing supply available”. It is basically a hidden subsidy for the entire petroleum value chain receives; from exploration to the end consumer. And yes, most of the world benefits from it but I guess not everyone feels they are exactly beneficiaries. I was not referring to the amount of money that comes from fuel taxes (which is what I think you were focusing on in paragraph two) but what should be added to the price paid at the pump to adjust for the government’s expenditure in protecting those supplies. It is actually paid out of the tax payer’s pockets (or their children’s pockets) in addition to what is paid per gallon at the local Chevron.
Of course it would be difficult to estimate, and I don’t really expect someone to come up with an exact figure. I was just wondering if anyone has ever read any estimates of it.