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> A company exists because one or more people risked wealth in order to create a net positive system What about companies that exist solely as rent seekers? Tu

> A company exists because one or more people risked wealth in order to create a net positive system What about companies that exist solely as rent seekers? TurboTax is a net negative on society - congress has tried repeatedly to simply mail people a bill or refund, instead of the silly song and dance we go through now, but Intuit has lobbied aggressively to prevent this.

jlawson 6y ago
Only possible thanks to government policy wielded through regulatory capture. Not a free market outcome.
- dmitriid 6y ago
  Ok then. What would taxes look like in a "free market" where "no one is entitled to anything"?
  - OCASM 6y ago
    There would be no taxes, only voluntary cooperation.
    - dmitriid 6y ago
      What is this ideal world, I want to live in it. Reality and all of history tells us that doesn't work at scale.
      - OCASM 6y ago
        The US used to have very little taxation. It worked fine then. Ever increasing government reach wasn't always the norm.
        dmitriid 6y ago
        When was this "very little taxation that worked"?
ccffpphh 6y ago
Under the current government system, they clearly provide value - otherwise they wouldn't exist. Whether the government is complicit in their existence is another matter entirely - but they're not just making money appear out of thin air. They clearly provide value in streamlining the spaghetti nest of the tax code for average consumers. The issue is with government enabling the monopoly.