2 ms·

"Taken by force" is a strange (very American?) way to put it. As a European, I'm happy to pay taxes because it's a convenient and efficient way to get money ou

"Taken by force" is a strange (very American?) way to put it. As a European, I'm happy to pay taxes because it's a convenient and efficient way to get money out of my bank account and into the hands of people who need it more than me; I'm helping my fellow countrymen with literally zero effort on my part, which makes my country a better place for me to live in. If we cancelled taxes and required people to make individual donations, I would still want to, but I would probably be too busy / lazy to do it :P (Not to say that the government does a PERFECTLY efficient job of distributing taxes to those in need, I actually disagree with much of their spending - but on the whole it does a considerably better job than I would if I had to do it all myself)

jedmeyers 8y ago
> As a European, I'm happy to pay taxes because Because you will go to jail if you won't. > taxes is a convenient and efficient way to get money out of my bank account and into the hands of people who need it more than me If this is something other than a very elaborate satire, I would be very surprised. > literally zero effort on my part Calling at least a third of your earnings "literally zero effort" is a bit disingenuous.
- Shish2k 8y ago
  > Because you will go to jail if you won't. Firstly, please don't put words into other people's mouths, it is very disingenuous. As to the actual point - I'll also go to jail if I murder someone. But I wouldn't say "the government is using force to stop me from murdering people", "the reason to avoid murdering people is because you will go to jail if you do" - I'm happy to go around not-murdering people of my own free will, because I believe that society is a better place when we don't murder each other. > Calling at least a third of your earnings "literally zero effort" is a bit disingenuous. The GOAL is to spend a third of my money, so I'm not counting that as effort - taxes take a third of my earnings in between my employer and my bank account, so by the time my monthly pay reaches my bank account, it has all been taken care of. Compare to the charity approach, where I need to research, make decisions, do bank transfers, keep up-to-date with the changing needs of a changing society... If I want to do a not-half-assed job of it, then I'm going to be spending so much time on it that it cancels out the benefit. A few people organising national spending at scale, even if they are only barely competent, is more efficient than everybody doing it individually.

jedmeyers 8y ago

> As a European, I'm happy to pay taxes because Because you will go to jail if you won't. > taxes is a convenient and efficient way to get money out of my bank account and into the hands of people who need it more than me If this is something other than a very elaborate satire, I would be very surprised. > literally zero effort on my part Calling at least a third of your earnings "literally zero effort" is a bit disingenuous.

Shish2k 8y ago
> Because you will go to jail if you won't. Firstly, please don't put words into other people's mouths, it is very disingenuous. As to the actual point - I'll also go to jail if I murder someone. But I wouldn't say "the government is using force to stop me from murdering people", "the reason to avoid murdering people is because you will go to jail if you do" - I'm happy to go around not-murdering people of my own free will, because I believe that society is a better place when we don't murder each other. > Calling at least a third of your earnings "literally zero effort" is a bit disingenuous. The GOAL is to spend a third of my money, so I'm not counting that as effort - taxes take a third of my earnings in between my employer and my bank account, so by the time my monthly pay reaches my bank account, it has all been taken care of. Compare to the charity approach, where I need to research, make decisions, do bank transfers, keep up-to-date with the changing needs of a changing society... If I want to do a not-half-assed job of it, then I'm going to be spending so much time on it that it cancels out the benefit. A few people organising national spending at scale, even if they are only barely competent, is more efficient than everybody doing it individually.