How Much Does Membership In The European Union Cost, Per Person Or Per Family In The UK?

Estimates vary a lot, and it's certainly true that the people producing the estimates all have their own agenda (their answers tend to be biased).  So here is a range of possible amounts, along with source and date the estimate was made:

Direct contributions are easy to figure out.

The total 2006 EU budget was about 106 billion Euros, or about £55 billion.  The typical net UK direct contribution to the EU budget tends to run around £4 billion per annum (£68 per UK resident). Germany contributes twice as much as that.

But the net effect of the EU is much harder to calculate.  Allowing for other ways the EU taxes us, or raises costs of goods or doing business, it's been suggested that --

The cost is £254 per year, per person: UKIP website: March 2001.

£264 for each resident of the UK, just from artificially held high food prices -- ie, the Common Agricultural Policy).  This works out to £3-£30/week extra on family food bills.  From UKIP, August 2006.

Net cost of EU is £873 per year, per person, says Bruges Group (right-wing think-tank): reported in August 2006.

As you say, the new effect of the EU is much harder to calculate - and yet, UKIP seem to have come up with very precise figures for how much the EU is costing us. But then UKIP's primary objective is for us to leave the EU, so they would, wouldn't they? And of course, if a figure's hard to prove, it's equally hard to disprove, which is handy for UKIP.