The average American worker cannot continue to subsidize Walmart. Walmart and others can’t continue to take advantage of the American system while they make billions in profit.

According to a new report by the Americans for Tax Fairness, Walmart cost American taxpayers an estimated $6.2 billion in Medicare, food stamps and housing subsidies per year. The study was based on a coalition of 400 progressive groups who went over numbers from 2013.  According to the study, the average Supercenter cost taxpayers between $904,542 and $1.75 million per year, or between $3,015 and $5,815 on average for each of 300 workers.

Not only does Walmart make extra money by not paying their employees enough to get out of the SNAP and Medicare brackets, but they make money on the other end of the deal. Last year they told analysts that they captured 18 percent of the SNAP (food stamp) market. According to Fortune magazine Walmart had a revenue of over $480 billion in 2016.

One major counter point to a $15 per hour minimum wage is that ‘those jobs aren’t meant for adults. They’re meant for high schoolers.’ Walmart is the largest employer in America. According to USA today they employ 1.3 million American workers. It is not feasible for all those employees to be low-level young workers who are working their first job after they get out of high school.

Walmart’s old saying was ‘Always Low Prices’. Well those low prices have a hidden cost of their own. The American people can’t continue to foot the bill for their employee necessities like food, housing and health care.