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> I don’t think me paying an extra $x thousand will actually help anyone. Then by the same logic, doing so when other people pay won’t actually help anyone eit

> I don’t think me paying an extra $x thousand will actually help anyone. Then by the same logic, doing so when other people pay won’t actually help anyone either.

skh 8y ago
Your logic is bad or it’s your math. Suppose I pay an extra $1,000 in income taxes via a donation. This amount will not help anyone or improve the fiscal situation of the United States government. However, several million people paying another thousand dollars in taxes can/will. Replace the word other in your comment with everyong in the tax bracket I’m in and you’ll see that your conclusion is wrong. Consider this analogy. Me pooping in the local lake isn’t going to adversely affect the lake’s ecology. A million people doing so will.
- RhysU 8y ago
  > Suppose I pay an extra $1,000 in income taxes via a donation. This amount will not help anyone or improve the fiscal situation of the United States government. It sounds like you think government waste implies $1000 is meaningless. Certainly $1000 in some private folks' pockets will materially help them.
- antidesitter 8y ago
  > Suppose I pay an extra $1,000 in income taxes via a donation. This amount will not help anyone or improve the fiscal situation of the United States government. We're talking about marginal returns here, i.e. whether or not the author should donate that extra $1,000 to the government. Donating that extra $1,000 when other people don't will help just as much, if not more, as when other people do.
  - skh 8y ago
    One person donating a $1,000 when no one else does could be more beneficial than if everyone donated $1,000? Interesting idea.
    - antidesitter 8y ago
      Yes (on top of existing taxes). Are you familiar with the concept of diminishing returns?
      - skh 8y ago
        It means the marginal effect of the first $1,000 would be greater than or equal to the marginal effect of the last $1,000. It does not mean that the aggregate benefit of multiple $1,000 donations would be less than just a single $1,000 donation. You are consistently confusing marginal effect and aggregate effect in your posts. You are consistently misunderstanding that there is a huge difference in effectiveness in everyone in a tax bracket having increased taxes versus a single person paying the increase in taxes. There’s big difference in me wanting to pay $1,000 more in taxes versus wanting everyone in my tax bracket to pay $1,000 more in taxes.
        antidesitter 8y ago
        You are consistently misunderstanding and misrepresenting my posts. What I’m discussing is precisely marginal effects and not aggregate effects. See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18836313 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18836313. Read more carefully next time.
        skh 8y ago
        I know you are talking about marginal effects but you should be talking about aggregate effects. You make the claim that a $1,000 donation might be more useful than many millions of $1,000 donations. This is clearly false. It’s true that the marginal effect of the first $1,000 donation is greater but you can’t conclude from this that the aggregate effect is greater. Mentioning diminishing returns is irrelevant when everyone you are responding to is pointing out that a single person voluntarily donating extra taxes is not worthwhile but at the same time think increasing taxes on everyone in a given bracket (due to scale) is worthwhile. Your emphasis on marginal vs. aggregate is why you are wrong and why your statements are wrong.

> I don’t think me paying an extra $x thousand will actually help anyone. Then by the same logic, doing so when other people pay won’t actually help anyone either.

skh 8y ago

Your logic is bad or it’s your math. Suppose I pay an extra $1,000 in income taxes via a donation. This amount will not help anyone or improve the fiscal situation of the United States government. However, several million people paying another thousand dollars in taxes can/will. Replace the word other in your comment with everyong in the tax bracket I’m in and you’ll see that your conclusion is wrong. Consider this analogy. Me pooping in the local lake isn’t going to adversely affect the lake’s ecology. A million people doing so will.

RhysU 8y ago
> Suppose I pay an extra $1,000 in income taxes via a donation. This amount will not help anyone or improve the fiscal situation of the United States government. It sounds like you think government waste implies $1000 is meaningless. Certainly $1000 in some private folks' pockets will materially help them.
antidesitter 8y ago
> Suppose I pay an extra $1,000 in income taxes via a donation. This amount will not help anyone or improve the fiscal situation of the United States government. We're talking about marginal returns here, i.e. whether or not the author should donate that extra $1,000 to the government. Donating that extra $1,000 when other people don't will help just as much, if not more, as when other people do.
- skh 8y ago
  One person donating a $1,000 when no one else does could be more beneficial than if everyone donated $1,000? Interesting idea.
  - antidesitter 8y ago
    Yes (on top of existing taxes). Are you familiar with the concept of diminishing returns?
    - skh 8y ago
      It means the marginal effect of the first $1,000 would be greater than or equal to the marginal effect of the last $1,000. It does not mean that the aggregate benefit of multiple $1,000 donations would be less than just a single $1,000 donation. You are consistently confusing marginal effect and aggregate effect in your posts. You are consistently misunderstanding that there is a huge difference in effectiveness in everyone in a tax bracket having increased taxes versus a single person paying the increase in taxes. There’s big difference in me wanting to pay $1,000 more in taxes versus wanting everyone in my tax bracket to pay $1,000 more in taxes.
      - antidesitter 8y ago
        You are consistently misunderstanding and misrepresenting my posts. What I’m discussing is precisely marginal effects and not aggregate effects. See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18836313 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18836313. Read more carefully next time.
        skh 8y ago
        I know you are talking about marginal effects but you should be talking about aggregate effects. You make the claim that a $1,000 donation might be more useful than many millions of $1,000 donations. This is clearly false. It’s true that the marginal effect of the first $1,000 donation is greater but you can’t conclude from this that the aggregate effect is greater. Mentioning diminishing returns is irrelevant when everyone you are responding to is pointing out that a single person voluntarily donating extra taxes is not worthwhile but at the same time think increasing taxes on everyone in a given bracket (due to scale) is worthwhile. Your emphasis on marginal vs. aggregate is why you are wrong and why your statements are wrong.