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[quote user="John WR"] [quote user="Sam1"]In FY10 the average federal Amtrak subsidy was $ $15.50 per taxpayer.[/quote] I wonder how the number of "taxpayers" is being counted here, Sam.  IRS defines "taxpayer" as any person or corporation that is subject to a tax administered by IRS.  That is, there are not just persons who actually pay taxes but also personw who do not pay taxes and even most persons who do not file returns because they are not required to.  Almost all people in the US are subject to taxes.  I wonder if all of those people are included.  When it comes to people who don't file returns I wonder how we can even know how many there are.  For example, how can IRS know how many undocumented workers who are paid off the books there are in the United States. [/quote] I should have been more precise. I should have said per federal personal income tax payer. In its statistics the IRS differentiates between tax filers and persons with a tax liability, i.e. obligated to pay federal income tax.    If one includes everyone who files a return, as well as other sources of federal tax income, which would be difficult to identify, the amount per tax filer would be less, since in 2010 40 per cent of those filing a tax return did not pay federal income taxes.    The point is on a taxpayer, filer, etc. basis, Amtrak's loss (subsidy) is small and probably does not register with most people. They don't feel it and, therefore, don't react to it. But Amtrak's subsidy, along with all the other small stuff adds up. Each year the CBO puts out a report on steps that could be taken to reduce the federal deficit. It consists of reducing or eliminating out flows and/or enhancing revenues. I downloaded the data in 2011into an Excel spreadsheet and went through it line by line. I isolated every item that was less than $10 billion, which at the time was a small portion of the estimated annual federal deficit of $1.25 trillion. I then divided this number by the number of federal income tax payers, not filers, for 2009, since the IRS numbers are two years behind in their release. The estimated number in payers in 2011 was reasonably close to the confirmed number of filers in 2009, so I decided to stick with the 2009 numbers. The federal cash transfer to Amtrak in 2011 was $3.8 billion, which consisted of the normal operating and capital subsidy, plus the ARRA appropriations. It worked out to $45 per federal income tax payer. Spread across all filers, as well as other persons, the amount would have been less, but even the IRS does not try to calculate that number.  Not much of a burden irrespective of how one spreads it.   Here some other numbers:  Post Office $109.90, Highway Trust Fund Transfer $28.08, Delay FAA's Net Gen $7.28, reduce the subsidized crop insurance premium $4.88, eliminate the Essential Air Service Program $2.16, eliminate cotton see storage subsidy $.01.   As is the case with the Amtrak subsidy, none of these payments, on a per capita or taxpayer basis are large. And every proponent of these subsidies, including Amtrak's supporters, argue that the are in the nation's interest. They are off the radar.  But they added up to $721 or 14.9 per cent of the average tax paid by a median income family.   The real biggies are Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and defense.  But if no one is willing to give on his or her federal perk, how does the nation ever solve its fiscal problems?  One way to reduce the Amtrak subsidy would be to drop the long distance trains, which are used by less than one per cent of intercity travelers. Needless to say, this issue is a hot potato.  As Texans like to say when their perks are being threatened, now you gone to meddling boy.
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