[cbgb]

I only doubt this theory because we civilians are not privy to strategic bombing locations. It is entirely possible that the US air campaign (or the Russians', for that matter) recently took out targets key to the financial strength of ISIS.

[tajen]

And French bombings. Yeah I know our forces are ridiculous and it sounds patriotic to request to be named when we participate to a war. But every French home who pays the income tax spent about 800€ to bomb Syria in 2015, out of the 2300€ average of income tax, so please include us ;)

[buzzdenver]

That sounds way off. Way less than 25% of tax revenues go towards the military (more like 2% in Europe). Then the bombing campaign must be a fraction of that.

[acveilleux]

Income tax total for France was 57B euros. The employer (payroll) tax isn't counted in there. Nor are some of the other social charges. It's a progressive tax designed to keep low-earning households from paying much, if any, income tax.

[tajen]

French ministry of defense is 32b€. You can't move an aircraft carrier without submarines and destroyers, you can't move a fleet without the satellites, you can't do anything without headquarters. We are currently active in 2 wars and present in a lot more places, but without wars, there'd be no need of a big headquartets; so how would you, yourself, make a honest pro rata of the cost of each war?

Then income tax is 20m homes, avg 2300€ per home.

[nextweek2]

NATO membership requests 2% of GDP be spent on defence.

The person you were replying to specifically stated income tax to highlight their point.

[buzzdenver]

I hear you, but that's a disingenuous argument unless you have a reason to say that income tax is somehow tied together with the bombing raids.

[umanwizard]

France spent a third of its budget on bombing Syria? Seriously?

[seren]

The income tax is a tiny part of France budget. Most of its revenue is a combination of VAT, energy tax, corporate taxes, etc.

[umanwizard]

So what does it mean to say that the EUR 800 came from income tax? Doesn't everything (mostly) just go into one general fund?