4 ms·

Why "not pay taxes" means "away from others"?

em-bee 3y ago
because living in a community requires financing of community facilities, which depends on contributions from every member of the community, aka taxes.
- t0bia_s 3y ago
  Why do you think its a condition for living in community?
  - em-bee 3y ago
    how can you have a functioning community where noone contributes anything? sure, many services can be provided by for-profit businesses for a fee, but who helps to put out fires for example? who pays for equipment used by firefighters? i see no way to make firefighting work unless everyone contributes. unless you rely on generosity of some, but that would not be fair, nor is it sustainable. how do you build streets? a public park? do you want to charge for their use? how do you pay for cleaning streets? street lights? traffic lights? street signs? police? judges? jails? there are many other examples that work better if the whole community collaborates to achieve them. taxes need not be only money but could be some other form of contribution.
    - t0bia_s 3y ago
      - How can you have a functioning community where noone contributes anything? How would that people make money?
      - em-bee 3y ago
        how was money invented? as i said: taxes need not be only money but could be some other form of contribution
        t0bia_s 3y ago
        Ah yes, but that is huge difference. Supporting private businesses that makes sense (free market) sounds more effective for me than collecting taxes and distribute it by centralised power. Decentralisation of financial system is a way that could fix many inequalities in society.
        em-bee 3y ago
        the problem is that this is not an exclusive either taxes or free market question. also taxes are simply mandatory contributions. that doesn't require a centralized power. but they are not a free market either. the examples i gave can not be solved in a free market. there are more: access to water in areas where i can't dig my own well (or where uncontrolled water use causes problems). solving this with a free market inevitably means that there will be some people who won't have access to water because connecting them is to expensive. we see this problem now with access to internet in rural areas. pretty soon access to internet will be required, and that means, we as a community have to pay for it to enable everyone to get access to it. another good example to look at is waste removal. while waste removal can be done trough private businesses and paid by the amount of waste you have, in cities it must be mandatory, because if it is not, then some people will simply throw the trash into the street. if it is mandatory, it is no longer a free market. but rather similar to taxes. but without a central power.
        t0bia_s 3y ago
        Where there is demand, there is supply. Price, that is not shaped or regulated by central authority, evolves with possibilities. Why would anyone throw trash on street, with full of bins? Mandate usualy change human behavior in opposite direction.
        em-bee 3y ago
        this is evolving into an argument about the efficiency of the free market, which i am not interested in. there is plenty of evidence that the completely unregulated free market doesn't work, because for example it favors services that are profitable. Why would anyone throw trash on street because it is to expensive to pay for someone to clean it up.

because living in a community requires financing of community facilities, which depends on contributions from every member of the community, aka taxes.

t0bia_s 3y ago
Why do you think its a condition for living in community?
- em-bee 3y ago
  how can you have a functioning community where noone contributes anything? sure, many services can be provided by for-profit businesses for a fee, but who helps to put out fires for example? who pays for equipment used by firefighters? i see no way to make firefighting work unless everyone contributes. unless you rely on generosity of some, but that would not be fair, nor is it sustainable. how do you build streets? a public park? do you want to charge for their use? how do you pay for cleaning streets? street lights? traffic lights? street signs? police? judges? jails? there are many other examples that work better if the whole community collaborates to achieve them. taxes need not be only money but could be some other form of contribution.
  - t0bia_s 3y ago
    - How can you have a functioning community where noone contributes anything? How would that people make money?
    - em-bee 3y ago
      how was money invented? as i said: taxes need not be only money but could be some other form of contribution
      - t0bia_s 3y ago
        Ah yes, but that is huge difference. Supporting private businesses that makes sense (free market) sounds more effective for me than collecting taxes and distribute it by centralised power. Decentralisation of financial system is a way that could fix many inequalities in society.
        em-bee 3y ago
        the problem is that this is not an exclusive either taxes or free market question. also taxes are simply mandatory contributions. that doesn't require a centralized power. but they are not a free market either. the examples i gave can not be solved in a free market. there are more: access to water in areas where i can't dig my own well (or where uncontrolled water use causes problems). solving this with a free market inevitably means that there will be some people who won't have access to water because connecting them is to expensive. we see this problem now with access to internet in rural areas. pretty soon access to internet will be required, and that means, we as a community have to pay for it to enable everyone to get access to it. another good example to look at is waste removal. while waste removal can be done trough private businesses and paid by the amount of waste you have, in cities it must be mandatory, because if it is not, then some people will simply throw the trash into the street. if it is mandatory, it is no longer a free market. but rather similar to taxes. but without a central power.
        t0bia_s 3y ago
        Where there is demand, there is supply. Price, that is not shaped or regulated by central authority, evolves with possibilities. Why would anyone throw trash on street, with full of bins? Mandate usualy change human behavior in opposite direction.
        em-bee 3y ago
        this is evolving into an argument about the efficiency of the free market, which i am not interested in. there is plenty of evidence that the completely unregulated free market doesn't work, because for example it favors services that are profitable. Why would anyone throw trash on street because it is to expensive to pay for someone to clean it up.