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Right now, most people in the US work for free 3-4 months out of the year via taxes. This is theft as well, but interestingly enough it has a smaller overhead t

Right now, most people in the US work for free 3-4 months out of the year via taxes. This is theft as well, but interestingly enough it has a smaller overhead then taxes, which nearly all of the funds are transferred to the 1%.

seoaeu 4y ago
It is wild how many folks on HN think they shouldn’t have to pay taxes
- exabrial 4y ago
  It's not wild to think I shouldn't be forced to work for free 3-4 months out of the year, especially when nearly all of the money is being transferred to the 1%. If it were actually contributing to something I may have a different opinion, but that is not the case.
  - seoaeu 4y ago
    That’s just another restatement of your belief that you shouldn’t have to pay taxes. But I’ll add that claiming you have to work for free for part of the year is a silly way of looking at at. You’re never forced to work for free for even a single hour! You just have to pay a fixed percentage of your hourly wage in taxes, an arrangement which has been in place across every developed country for many decades.
barneygale 4y ago
"Taxation is theft" is the rallying cry of the overprivileged who want to feel like victims for once.
- exabrial 4y ago
  Completely false, and an attempt at character defamation while sidestepping the facts. A primary human right is you own the fruits of your labor. Period.
  - DarylZero 4y ago
    Equating people's income with "the fruits of their labor" is ridiculous. (Might as well claim that the government's income collected through taxes is the fruits of the government's labor.)
    - exabrial 4y ago
      My income is the fruit of my labor... That not really disputable... I'm not working for free.
      - DarylZero 4y ago
        It's very unrealistic, one might say childishly naive, to assume that this is how income is distributed.
        exabrial 4y ago
        They have a word for that: Slavery.
        DarylZero 4y ago
        Of course, you wouldn't have such ideas in your head in the first place, if you were capable of listening to other people.
  - seoaeu 4y ago
    You’re claiming that it is a human right to not pay any taxes? I have a hard time imagining there’s much basis or precedent under international law to support such a position
btdmaster 4y ago
Side note: taxes do not fund spending in countries that issue their own currency and that currency is not pegged to something else. In this sense, the US does not need taxes to fund spending on healthcare, in the same way it does not need taxes to spend nearly $1 trillion on the military. Modern monetary theory describes taxes as primarily tools to reduce some effects of income inequality (and that is not done anymore) and, most importantly, provide the value of money. In essence, taxes (and the threat of imprisonment if you do not pay them) is what makes paper, and now numbers on computers, a thing you will die without.

seoaeu 4y ago

It is wild how many folks on HN think they shouldn’t have to pay taxes

exabrial 4y ago
It's not wild to think I shouldn't be forced to work for free 3-4 months out of the year, especially when nearly all of the money is being transferred to the 1%. If it were actually contributing to something I may have a different opinion, but that is not the case.
- seoaeu 4y ago
  That’s just another restatement of your belief that you shouldn’t have to pay taxes. But I’ll add that claiming you have to work for free for part of the year is a silly way of looking at at. You’re never forced to work for free for even a single hour! You just have to pay a fixed percentage of your hourly wage in taxes, an arrangement which has been in place across every developed country for many decades.

barneygale 4y ago

"Taxation is theft" is the rallying cry of the overprivileged who want to feel like victims for once.

exabrial 4y ago
Completely false, and an attempt at character defamation while sidestepping the facts. A primary human right is you own the fruits of your labor. Period.
- DarylZero 4y ago
  Equating people's income with "the fruits of their labor" is ridiculous. (Might as well claim that the government's income collected through taxes is the fruits of the government's labor.)
  - exabrial 4y ago
    My income is the fruit of my labor... That not really disputable... I'm not working for free.
    - DarylZero 4y ago
      It's very unrealistic, one might say childishly naive, to assume that this is how income is distributed.
      - exabrial 4y ago
        They have a word for that: Slavery.
        DarylZero 4y ago
        Of course, you wouldn't have such ideas in your head in the first place, if you were capable of listening to other people.
- seoaeu 4y ago
  You’re claiming that it is a human right to not pay any taxes? I have a hard time imagining there’s much basis or precedent under international law to support such a position

btdmaster 4y ago

Side note: taxes do not fund spending in countries that issue their own currency and that currency is not pegged to something else. In this sense, the US does not need taxes to fund spending on healthcare, in the same way it does not need taxes to spend nearly $1 trillion on the military. Modern monetary theory describes taxes as primarily tools to reduce some effects of income inequality (and that is not done anymore) and, most importantly, provide the value of money. In essence, taxes (and the threat of imprisonment if you do not pay them) is what makes paper, and now numbers on computers, a thing you will die without.