Cost per family is the cost per person in the country, divided by 3.14, which is the number of people in the average family. (More info can be found on the “about” page – linked at top and bottom of this page.)

It might be tempting to assume that you can subtract out the people who don’t pay income taxes and get a better figure, but revenues also come into the government from corporate taxes and other levies and duties, some of which are paid by people who don’t pay any income taxes.

Tax “incidence” – exactly who pays exactly what – is very difficult to calculate. We will be working on developing more precise measurements over time as the site grows. For now, cost per average family, person, couple, etc. gives visitors a sense of the amount of spending (and occasional savings) in any given bill.

I find the use of “cost per family” to describe bills to be vague and prone to misunderstanding. Does “family” mean household, tax return, or 2.49 kids + dog?

And with approximately 50% of households paying $0 in income taxes, the cost for the average family is usually $0, as opposed to “Passage of S. 3001 … would cost the average U.S. family just under $9,000.”