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It is not that simple and there are deeper issues. If buying out politicians was easy Google and Amazon would have easily raised H1B cap by now. Just like in im

It is not that simple and there are deeper issues. If buying out politicians was easy Google and Amazon would have easily raised H1B cap by now. Just like in immigration there are multiple forces at play in taxation too. The powerful anti-tax group (which I support) is against this simplification problem. We believe making it simple would also make it simple to raise taxes and people will not realise how much money they are paying to the government. This reduces government's accountability in spending. I think IRS must send us a bill each month and we must write a check to pay it. It is both simple and also people feel the pinch of paying taxes thus supporting measures to reduce taxes over time.

jedberg 8y ago
> We believe making it simple would also make it simple to raise taxes and people will not realise how much money they are paying to the government. In other words you think people are too dumb to do the math, but yet are smart enough to make intelligent protests against taxes when they have to write a check?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- Karishma1234 8y ago
  I do not make any value judgement here about other people. I do not want money taken away from people without they explicitly agreeing to it (even though disagreement might mean jail).
  - s73v3r_ 8y ago
    You agreed to follow the laws of the country in which you reside by continuing to reside there.
    - antidesitter 8y ago
      To be clear, are you implying that residence implies consent to every policy? Is that really what you’re saying? Note: I don’t agree with the GP.
    - Karishma1234 8y ago
      Who is disagreeing with that ? Does not mean you have to like the law or not work to repeal it. You could have used the same argument on blacks and claimed the law of the land allows slavery and hence they should willingly follow it. Let me rephrase my original sentence ". I do not want money taken away from people without they explicitly agreeing to it " Just because you have to pay taxes anyways does not mean there should not be a formal consent in the form of a check.
the_gastropod 8y ago
This would be fine and good if: 1. There was any relation between how much we spent and what we pay in taxes. There isn't. In the U.S., so-called "fiscal conservatives" routinely give massive tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans while simultaneously voting to increase spending in the largest discretionary spending category we have: the military—which currently represents 53.7% of our discretionary budget. 2. People currently had any idea what they were spending on taxes. In my experience, most people think the amount taken out of their paycheck is all federal taxes. They seemingly make no distinction between social security, 401k contributions, medicare, pre-tax benefits like health insurance, transportation benefits, FSA's, etc., local, state, or federal taxes. It's all just seen as "the government took money from me". It's amazing how many people legitimately think they're taxed over 50% (especially those that are in the 15-25% tax brackets).
- Karishma1234 8y ago
  I agree with you. The government spending needs to be drastically reduced. > People currently had any idea what they were spending on taxes. This is precisely the opposition to IRS doing your taxes for you. Imagine you receive a bill every month that shows the clearly what all these payments are and you have to write separate checks.
- phil21 8y ago
  > 2. People currently had any idea what they were spending on taxes Taxes include all the things. Not just Federal income tax. It gets frustrating comparing tax rates to say - European nations - when they typically will be quoting all-in tax rates other than sales tax (VAT) - where the US number will almost invariably list only the federal income tax rate which tells not even half the story in many cases. social security, medicare, medicaid, local income taxes, state income taxes, federal income taxes, real estate taxes, sales taxes. Adding those taxes together equals your total tax load. I think more people are closer to 50% than you'd suspect. Programs like social security and medicare are re-distributive in nature and indistinguishable from taxes - they simply were marketed differently for political reasons. But lets call them what they are. > 401k contributions, pre-tax benefits like health insurance, transportation benefits, FSA's, etc.,. Agreed that those are not taxes - in fact somewhat the opposite! Edit: formatting

jedberg 8y ago

> We believe making it simple would also make it simple to raise taxes and people will not realise how much money they are paying to the government. In other words you think people are too dumb to do the math, but yet are smart enough to make intelligent protests against taxes when they have to write a check?

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
Karishma1234 8y ago
I do not make any value judgement here about other people. I do not want money taken away from people without they explicitly agreeing to it (even though disagreement might mean jail).
- s73v3r_ 8y ago
  You agreed to follow the laws of the country in which you reside by continuing to reside there.
  - antidesitter 8y ago
    To be clear, are you implying that residence implies consent to every policy? Is that really what you’re saying? Note: I don’t agree with the GP.
  - Karishma1234 8y ago
    Who is disagreeing with that ? Does not mean you have to like the law or not work to repeal it. You could have used the same argument on blacks and claimed the law of the land allows slavery and hence they should willingly follow it. Let me rephrase my original sentence ". I do not want money taken away from people without they explicitly agreeing to it " Just because you have to pay taxes anyways does not mean there should not be a formal consent in the form of a check.

the_gastropod 8y ago

This would be fine and good if: 1. There was any relation between how much we spent and what we pay in taxes. There isn't. In the U.S., so-called "fiscal conservatives" routinely give massive tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans while simultaneously voting to increase spending in the largest discretionary spending category we have: the military—which currently represents 53.7% of our discretionary budget. 2. People currently had any idea what they were spending on taxes. In my experience, most people think the amount taken out of their paycheck is all federal taxes. They seemingly make no distinction between social security, 401k contributions, medicare, pre-tax benefits like health insurance, transportation benefits, FSA's, etc., local, state, or federal taxes. It's all just seen as "the government took money from me". It's amazing how many people legitimately think they're taxed over 50% (especially those that are in the 15-25% tax brackets).

Karishma1234 8y ago
I agree with you. The government spending needs to be drastically reduced. > People currently had any idea what they were spending on taxes. This is precisely the opposition to IRS doing your taxes for you. Imagine you receive a bill every month that shows the clearly what all these payments are and you have to write separate checks.
phil21 8y ago
> 2. People currently had any idea what they were spending on taxes Taxes include all the things. Not just Federal income tax. It gets frustrating comparing tax rates to say - European nations - when they typically will be quoting all-in tax rates other than sales tax (VAT) - where the US number will almost invariably list only the federal income tax rate which tells not even half the story in many cases. social security, medicare, medicaid, local income taxes, state income taxes, federal income taxes, real estate taxes, sales taxes. Adding those taxes together equals your total tax load. I think more people are closer to 50% than you'd suspect. Programs like social security and medicare are re-distributive in nature and indistinguishable from taxes - they simply were marketed differently for political reasons. But lets call them what they are. > 401k contributions, pre-tax benefits like health insurance, transportation benefits, FSA's, etc.,. Agreed that those are not taxes - in fact somewhat the opposite! Edit: formatting