4 ms·
I pay my taxes, not because I want to but because the state has right to licit first use of force and can throw me in jail if I don't. I personally have too muc
by malandrew 4y ago
I pay my taxes, not because I want to but because the state has right to licit first use of force and can throw me in jail if I don't. I personally have too much to lose so I comply. There's nothing moral about paying taxes because there is no consent involved. I'm not paying for things I'm using. I'm having money taken from me with no guarantee that I get something in return comensurate with how much is being taken from me with the threat of violence.
That being said, I'm not going to take exception with the people who are economically at the bottom and whose lives would be far worse if they didn't do what they can to avoid having their pockets picked by government. I wish my pockets weren't being picked but if someone else is able to avoid that fate, good for them.
It's far more moral for these people to keep the fruits of their own labor to make ends meet than for them to steal from other productive citizens trying to make a living, which is what we'd be forcing them to do if there was no way for them to avoid having their pockets picked by the government.
- rcpt 4y agoIt doesn't sound like these people are at the bottom
- malandrew 4y agoIt does to me. These are likely people that are living in lower quality housing with more people packed in per square foot of housing out of necessity. I don't have actually data to back up this assertion, but this has been my personal observation of folks that do the kind of informal work that allows them to be paid under the table.
- rcpt 4y agoWe're talking about these people right? > I have some NYC-native friends whose parents make less than $20k a year on paper but own homes and generally live comfortably.
- peruvian 4y agoThere's some truth. My friend's parents don't live in desirable areas (to white collar workers) and in older housing. It is not rundown or anything, but it is an insular immigrant community. There's a reason almost none of their first generation kids stay in that area. But they live comfortably — at least the people I talk to go on vacation often, were able to help my friend with student loans, have cars in NYC, etc.
- counttheforks 4y agoDo you not enjoy having functional streets?
- prottog 4y agoI'm sure the GP would be happy if his tax dollars went to building roads and bridges, and not the thousand other things that are of dubious worth to the nation as a whole.
- counttheforks 4y agoAnd I'm sure someone else would be happy if their tax dollars went to those things you dub of dubious worth. Picking and choosing where your tax dollars are spent is impractical.
- Frondo 4y agoThere is consent to taxation -- your parents consented for you on your behalf when they had guardianship over you as a child, by choosing to have your citizenship here. You implicitly maintained that by retaining your citizenship at the age of majority. We probably agree in many ways on how badly tax money is spent, but that there is "nothing moral" about it is a statement that does not make sense.