Re: As a tax payer...
Bit difficult to buy F-22s as they stopped building them in 2011. Also if you think the F-35 is expensive I've got some bad news about the F-22... A Block 70* F-16 isn't that much cheaper either by the looks of things.
*The most recent production standard which looks to be about $57 million a go vs $79 for an F-35A.