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>Do you use public roads or sidewalks? Yes, and that is paid for by my outrageous property/vehicle registration/gas taxes. Huge portions of our cities have roa
by zionic 5y ago
>Do you use public roads or sidewalks?
Yes, and that is paid for by my outrageous property/vehicle registration/gas taxes. Huge portions of our cities have roads in near 3rd-world conditions. The major arteries of every top-50 US city grind to a halt twice a day, and you have been conditioned to believe this is normal/acceptable. Our bridges, roads, and railways are falling apart.
> Do you live, work or shop in a structure that adheres to building codes?
Yes, and I pay for that directly via the price of homes (home inspection and permit costs are passed on).
> Do you have power? Do you have access to the internet? Do you enjoy food that doesn't kill you?
I pay for all of these things directly out of the money left over that the government does not take from me. In the case of food, I pay taxes again on it when I buy it.
> share the frustration that tax money isn't always (often) spent effectively, but then I ask...what have I done? what would I do differently? At the end of the day, I'm not that interested in doing these things.
Where do you live that the government provides you home, roads, sidewalks, food, power, and water for $0 post-taxes? Because I pay for all those things directly with post-tax income.
>Paying these taxes doesn't measurably impact my overall well-being.
How does 30-50% of your take home not impact your "overall well being"? All forms of calculation that result in a lower number than that have, in my experience, come from ignorance of the comprehensive tax cycle.
- gher-shyu3i 5y agoI agree with your sentiment overall. > How does 30-50% of your take home not impact your "overall well being"? How do you respond to the claim that if income and other taxes were lower, then everything would go up in price to compensate for the extra liquidity in the market?
- zionic 5y agoPerhaps initially, but the additional demand would drive economic expansion via demand for more workers to fill said demand no?
- Smarjerry 5y agoWhat is surprising in the US is they don't teach anyone about taxes in grades 1-12 and even in college it is optional. You can see that translate into even forums like this with potentially wealthier people, but even here many don't recognize all the various levels of taxes and what is contributing to what. Federal income taxes for example are what most people recognize as taxes and that mostly only goes towards federal items, federal meaning, national, such as military, border, and other interstate agencies. We need to literally teach about taxes in school, that is the only way people will learn.