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It isn't being terrified of taxes. It is saying "things have a cost. Lets start talking about the cost and asking if we're really willing to pay it."

vacri 11y ago
It's not actually saying "let's start talking about the cost". "Do you want higher taxes?" is a rhetorical statement that means "this is bad, because it will raise our taxes, which I think is inherently bad"; there's no real interest in a genuine discussion of the pros and cons.
- TheSpiceIsLife 11y ago
  The con is it's very difficult to get a government to lower taxes, not so difficult to have them increase it. Also that thing P.J. O'rourke said: giving money and power to politicians is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. I'm not aware of having met anyone who has ever said "I want to pay more tax", but I've met plenty of people who have said "that other group of people should pay more tax".
  - nmrm2 11y ago
    > The con is it's very difficult to get a government to lower taxes This isn't true at all. It's very difficult to get a government to decrease the services it provides. If you decrease taxes without decreasing provided services, then that would be extremely easy to do -- until you run out of money. Look at the cluster fuck that is Kansas. > I'm not aware of having met anyone who has ever said "I want to pay more tax" In that case, you must either not live in the US or else live in a place with either really shit or really parasitic public schools. A huge percentage of school districts are majority funded by local (not state) tax dollars, at rates that are approved directly (i.e., by ballot measure). Schools are the most obvious case because increases in (local) taxes that fund schools are typically ballot measures, and usually affect the population in a pretty homogenous way (except in very urban areas, but even then, property owners are usually a key voting block in local elections). But there are other taxes that a lot of people support increasing and would end up paying -- gas tax, alcohol tax, etc. If you've really never met someone who said "I want to pay more taxes", then that's really just an indication that you're living in a bubble. It's not at all an uncommon sentiment. In fact, I'd say that "some of the taxes I pay could be higher if it's spent on the right things" is a far more common sentiment than "taxes bad, period".
    - TheSpiceIsLife 11y ago
      Thanks for the reply. You're quite right, bit of a bubble here in Launceston, Tasmania. Population of about 100,000and relatively benign government.

vacri 11y ago

It's not actually saying "let's start talking about the cost". "Do you want higher taxes?" is a rhetorical statement that means "this is bad, because it will raise our taxes, which I think is inherently bad"; there's no real interest in a genuine discussion of the pros and cons.

TheSpiceIsLife 11y ago
The con is it's very difficult to get a government to lower taxes, not so difficult to have them increase it. Also that thing P.J. O'rourke said: giving money and power to politicians is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. I'm not aware of having met anyone who has ever said "I want to pay more tax", but I've met plenty of people who have said "that other group of people should pay more tax".
- nmrm2 11y ago
  > The con is it's very difficult to get a government to lower taxes This isn't true at all. It's very difficult to get a government to decrease the services it provides. If you decrease taxes without decreasing provided services, then that would be extremely easy to do -- until you run out of money. Look at the cluster fuck that is Kansas. > I'm not aware of having met anyone who has ever said "I want to pay more tax" In that case, you must either not live in the US or else live in a place with either really shit or really parasitic public schools. A huge percentage of school districts are majority funded by local (not state) tax dollars, at rates that are approved directly (i.e., by ballot measure). Schools are the most obvious case because increases in (local) taxes that fund schools are typically ballot measures, and usually affect the population in a pretty homogenous way (except in very urban areas, but even then, property owners are usually a key voting block in local elections). But there are other taxes that a lot of people support increasing and would end up paying -- gas tax, alcohol tax, etc. If you've really never met someone who said "I want to pay more taxes", then that's really just an indication that you're living in a bubble. It's not at all an uncommon sentiment. In fact, I'd say that "some of the taxes I pay could be higher if it's spent on the right things" is a far more common sentiment than "taxes bad, period".
  - TheSpiceIsLife 11y ago
    Thanks for the reply. You're quite right, bit of a bubble here in Launceston, Tasmania. Population of about 100,000and relatively benign government.