I like taxes; with them we buy civilization.
I want the IRS to have whatever resources are necessary to collect every tax dollar owed (but not a dollar more) according to tax statue.
I want the IRS to have whatever resources are necessary to collect every tax dollar owed (but not a dollar more) according to tax statue.
You are welcome to over-report them for your own satisfaction.
I'm fine with people who are unable to contribute putting less in, I'm not fine with people who exploit the system - and before some BS about welfare queens gets injected... I also care about scale, the amount of missed revenue from corporate taxes far outweighs how people below the poverty line are able to abuse the system - right now it even seems like they're getting the sharp end of the stick to support the top earners - rather than the squeeze being on the middle class.
That’s sales speak for “others should pay even proportionally more than me”.
Ahh yes punish those who worked to provide something worthwhile and reward those who couldn't be bothered to do the same.
Taxes are a membership fee for society. I'm fine with people declaring themselves not members of the society, but they don't get to use the club room then, either.
If only you could appreciate that the US was founded protesting a 5% GDP tax rate.
* founded by wealthy landowners interested in protecting their interests
* that 5% tax wasn't going towards US infrastructure
* 200+ years have passed since, and we've gone past horse-drawn carriages
This meme needs to die.
Nobody was sitting around saying "You know what will make me richer, a decade of war with England and if we win followed up with several decades of poor trade relations". The wealthy landowners who founded this country were very much going all in on a bet where the possible outcomes were lose everything or break even. They didn't do it for the money, not that there was any money in it to do it for.
Edit: Is my statement factually incorrect or ideologically inconvenient?
Of course, actually taking that into context takes away some of the dopamine hit from trying to spread the elite hatred that is currently in vogue.
I'm not even saying there is anything wrong with disliking the elite now; just keep in mind then is then, and now is now. The issues are of course going to be different, even if there may be a shred of commonality to them.
Also if you're going to talk about context, the US tax system at the time of its founding isn't relevant at all. I know you didn't bring it up, but you are still defending something largely irrelevant. It'd be like a candidate for President of the United States defending a tithe system because it's mentioned in the Bible.
Yea, that'd be silly, instead it was "You know what, the crown isn't listening to us and we're ineligible to be lords like those fat cats in england proper, let's throw a big to-do and get invited back in at a proper rank with representation."
This is incorrect as England was providing military services to the American colony. Adam smith implies that the cost of the military was actually higher than the taxes collected.