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Comment by koolba | Hacker News Reader

> "More than any other public policy, the way the government raises revenue—how much, at what rates, under what circumstances, from whom, and for whom—has the greatest impact on our economy’s performance."

A perfect world would have people writing a check for their entire annual tax just before stepping into the voting booth.

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> A perfect world would have people writing a check for their entire annual tax just before stepping into the voting booth.

That would definitely be a horrible idea. No, I won't vote for drivable roads because I just payed my taxes, potholes be damned. And afterwards complain about the potholes anyway.

I never said you don’t get to vote if you don’t pay your taxes. Nor that you have to pay taxes to vote.

I’m saying those that do pay taxes should have the totality of the amount of their income that is going to the government in mind when they head to the polls.

I think most people would still vote for drivable roads, and that there are a lot of government policies that could be eliminated before drivable roads are even on the table.

My experience in Omaha suggests drivable roads get sacrificed much sooner than one might expect. (And no, not for something nice like bike paths or even like, functional sidewalks.)

There are places in US where the firefighters won't respond to a fire in buildings where owners haven't specifically paid the bill for their own coverage, because the local voters like it that way (those that haven't had their house burn down while the coverage lapsed, anyway).

> No, I won't vote for drivable roads because I just payed my taxes, potholes be damned.

I honestly think the issue would instead be people not wanting to pay for the public service pensions for the former pothole-fillers.

And the large number who get a net payment instead would get a check right then?

I don’t think that will accomplish what you expect.

One of the main reasons conservatives and libertarians want filing to be hard is to confuse people into thinking the income tax hurts them, when in reality it benefits many of them.

Taxes in the US are not due annually. They are due on an ongoing basis.

You do not get a net payment. You paid your taxes throughout the year every paycheck. Your employer likely files quarterly.

At the end of the year, if you tally up your taxes and figure out you’ve given too much of your money to the government, you get some of your money back.

It’s called a refund. Not a payment.

I’d put those ongoing taxes throughout the year into the bucket of “shadow taxes” GP refers to. I suspect many people do not view their refund checks as a no interest short term loan they floated to the government. Their refund check came from their paycheck.

Some very low income workers that get the EIC end up with a net payment.

TIL!

Every tax form I’ve ever filled out has an instruction like:

> Enter the lesser of lines X and Y

when applying deductions and credits to prevent them from exceeding some value.

I’m surprised to learn that the EIC isn’t clamped like this.

It is a refundable credit

As noted elsewhere, the EITC is a so-called "refundable" credit. It wouldn't serve its intended purpose if it wasn't refundable.

What in the libertarian nonsense is this? Why not make people ride public transportation or use a public restroom or sit in a park or read about the history of the interstate system or visit a national park just before voting?

We should do voting at the annual BLM mustang round-up so voters can get a free pony.

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