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Comment by kaesar14 | Hacker News Reader

I had the same feeling. That’s a rounding error in some of the recent things America has spent money on like the infra bill and CARES act.

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Yeah and when it is calculated over the period of time it was dispensed, that is hilariously cheap.

The defense budget for 2022 in USA is $768 billion for just one year. The budget for the entire development of the telescope was 1.351351% of that budget.

It's a rounding error compared to those, but it's not to the taxpayer. $10 billion split among roughly 100 million net-tax-paying Americans comes to $100 each. How many taxpayers would rather have an extra $100 than a space telescope?

America doesn't have a poll taxation system, what's the spread on that $100 if it's adjusted for progressive taxation?

That's a moot argument. We can use the Iraq war instead and do that same math, amounting to $11000 per tax payer.

Government budgets are well spent when they are used to do things that are impossible, unfeasible or unwise to do by individual people. JWST is a science investment, which is one of the wisest ways to spend public money.

I’d love this system if it meant I could vote against the third of my taxes that goes towards the Military-industrial complex.

Anyway I’m sure most Americans would’ve been happy with the 10 dollars a year or whatever it took over the time that 10 billion was spent

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