I wonder though...how much of the cost of running museums abroad is paid for by the local government? In that sense, the taxes people pay to support such institutions should be taken into account as well.

There is also the problem in countries which offer government support to museums of many people being forced to pay for the places, when they have absolutely no desire to ever set foot inside and couldn't care less if they all shut down. In the US, the people who actually use museums provide much of museums' income, while the people who prefer monster truck rallies won't have to pay for things they don't want.

So which is more fair? Taxing everyone a little to keep entrance fees down for those people who wish to have an edifying experience--for which there are certainly arguments, or having higher admittance fees but having only those who wish to enter pay?

To me, museums are closely akin to libraries. Both play vital roles in our society and civilization, roles that transcend the entertainment value they may offer (which has, shortsightedly, been used as justification for setting admission charges on the basis of other popular entertainments).

I think few would argue that libraries should be pay-as-you-go, on the grounds that government support is unfairly burdening those who don't use libraries. And I think even fewer would argue that the National Archives, say, should be shut down, because so few taxpayers will ever make use of them.

Like archives, museums are storehouses of memory; what they preserve, whether we choose to visit them or not, is who we are.

In fact, the big US national museums are free (there might be some exceptions, but that's the general rule), so it's really more a case of how private museums that receive a significant amount of public subsidy should set admissions policy. I would argue that to charge high entrance fees while accepting tax breaks, grants, and subsidies is less than fair to all members of the public. In this regard, the Metropolitan Museum's agreement with New York City seems exemplary, where there is a suggested admission fee, but visitors can pay whatever they wish. From what I read several years back, a number of New York museums operate under the same agreement -- though not all seem to be sticking to their end of the bargain.