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The education is just as hard as the incentives. With a complicated system, it’s hard to get people to understand their incentives. For example, I’ve known peo

The education is just as hard as the incentives. With a complicated system, it’s hard to get people to understand their incentives. For example, I’ve known people who have turned down raises because it would put them into a higher tax bracket. They thought it would result in less money overall (which is not how it works, in case anyone reading finds themselves in this situation). That’s a benefit of something like UBI. It’s easy to understand your incentives.

lotsofpulp 5y ago
There was a complete lack of education about how taxes, governments, zoning, city planning, or any of that community type stuff in school when I went through it 30 years ago. I do not see why kids cannot be taught how the system works, including marginal tax rates which is a one day lesson in 5th grade math.
- Nkuna 5y ago
  > I do not see why kids cannot be taught how the system works, including marginal tax rates which is a one day lesson in 5th grade math. No government, more so democratic states, wants their citizenry to know and understand the system that subjugates them. Think of all the things you learned after high school, then reflect on the things you were taught. Refer especially to the history of one's country. Now do you see?
  - lotsofpulp 5y ago
    Yes, I wanted to avoid being cynical, but I did have that thought. Although, the US does do a decent job of making all this information available via the internet.
  - buu700 5y ago
    I grew up in the US and was taught very well about my country's history in public school, as far as I'm aware. Are you implying that non-democratic governments are somehow more transparent?
etempleton 5y ago
Yes, I agree. People do not have the time to learn all of the nuances of all of these complicated government policies. It is not that any of them are hard to understand, it is that no one has the bandwidth to worry about one more thing in their life. There is a reason most people pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars for someone else to do their taxes for them.

lotsofpulp 5y ago

There was a complete lack of education about how taxes, governments, zoning, city planning, or any of that community type stuff in school when I went through it 30 years ago. I do not see why kids cannot be taught how the system works, including marginal tax rates which is a one day lesson in 5th grade math.

Nkuna 5y ago
> I do not see why kids cannot be taught how the system works, including marginal tax rates which is a one day lesson in 5th grade math. No government, more so democratic states, wants their citizenry to know and understand the system that subjugates them. Think of all the things you learned after high school, then reflect on the things you were taught. Refer especially to the history of one's country. Now do you see?
- lotsofpulp 5y ago
  Yes, I wanted to avoid being cynical, but I did have that thought. Although, the US does do a decent job of making all this information available via the internet.
- buu700 5y ago
  I grew up in the US and was taught very well about my country's history in public school, as far as I'm aware. Are you implying that non-democratic governments are somehow more transparent?

etempleton 5y ago

Yes, I agree. People do not have the time to learn all of the nuances of all of these complicated government policies. It is not that any of them are hard to understand, it is that no one has the bandwidth to worry about one more thing in their life. There is a reason most people pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars for someone else to do their taxes for them.