4 ms·

Taxes are not an automatic good. There are things we want the government to do. It costs some amount of money to do those things. We should figure out what that

by imgabe 2y ago

Taxes are not an automatic good. There are things we want the government to do. It costs some amount of money to do those things. We should figure out what that amount of money is, tax enough for it, and the rest belong to the person who earns it. Why do people assume we always have to give more and more money to the government? What have they done with the $6 trillion they spend every year so far? What evidence is there that giving them more will improve anything? Taxes are not for you to punish people you don't like. They're to fund the government enough to perform its necessary functions. That's all.

sbsudbdjd 2y ago
Ppl's obsessions (on both sides) on taxes is so weird. Governments can fund themselves in numerous ways, not just taxes. Either way you'll pay. The key issue is do we want a federal government expenditure of 20-25% of the economy? I'd say no.
- Loughla 2y ago
  What other ways are there?
  - sbsudbdjd 2y ago
    Glad you asked. There's the obvious three ways to finance government: - Taxes - debt financing - seignorage The latter two aren't taxes, but people end up paying for the expenses anyway. Governments can also plunder other country's money. While this sounds very Roman empire, it's still a thing. Case in point freezing another country's foreign exchange reserves, refusing to return their gold, confiscating the interest on the reserves, etc
- amrocha 2y ago
  This is such a stupid argument. Is your issue that the number is too high? Why? What’s the right number? Should government spend 25% percent of GDP? Who cares. Governments shouldn’t aim for a specific number, they should spend enough to make sure full employment is achieved, according to saving desires and the private market’s appetite for investment. Whatever the private market isn’t willing to invest, the government should take care of. Whether that’s 10% or 50% is literally irrelevant.
  - imgabe 2y ago
    The government only gets money by skimming off the top of private enterprise. If the percentage is too high then there’s nothing left to skim and the system collapses, so yes we should care what the percentage is and we should want it to be as low as possible. We should be demanding ruthless efficiency from the government, not dreaming up new ways for them to take our stuff.
    - amrocha 2y ago
      No, you have no idea how sovereign economies work. Taxes don’t fund government spending. Learn about economics before you complain about the number being too high.
      - imgabe 2y ago
        > Taxes don’t fund government spending. Cool, then let's just do away with them altogether. This is great news. All those people saying I needed to pay taxes so I can have roads and schools and a military and everything must be wrong.
        amrocha 2y ago
        Again, go read up on economics. You have no idea what you’re talking about.
        imgabe 2y ago
        Smugly insinuating that you’re right without providing any sort of reasoning does not make you look as cool and smart as you think it does.
        amrocha 2y ago
        You arguments so far have been “the number is too big” and “let’s get rid of all taxes” so I don’t feel like you’re very serious about having a discussion.

by imgabe 2y ago

sbsudbdjd 2y ago

Ppl's obsessions (on both sides) on taxes is so weird. Governments can fund themselves in numerous ways, not just taxes. Either way you'll pay. The key issue is do we want a federal government expenditure of 20-25% of the economy? I'd say no.

Loughla 2y ago
What other ways are there?
- sbsudbdjd 2y ago
  Glad you asked. There's the obvious three ways to finance government: - Taxes - debt financing - seignorage The latter two aren't taxes, but people end up paying for the expenses anyway. Governments can also plunder other country's money. While this sounds very Roman empire, it's still a thing. Case in point freezing another country's foreign exchange reserves, refusing to return their gold, confiscating the interest on the reserves, etc
amrocha 2y ago
This is such a stupid argument. Is your issue that the number is too high? Why? What’s the right number? Should government spend 25% percent of GDP? Who cares. Governments shouldn’t aim for a specific number, they should spend enough to make sure full employment is achieved, according to saving desires and the private market’s appetite for investment. Whatever the private market isn’t willing to invest, the government should take care of. Whether that’s 10% or 50% is literally irrelevant.
- imgabe 2y ago
  The government only gets money by skimming off the top of private enterprise. If the percentage is too high then there’s nothing left to skim and the system collapses, so yes we should care what the percentage is and we should want it to be as low as possible. We should be demanding ruthless efficiency from the government, not dreaming up new ways for them to take our stuff.
  - amrocha 2y ago
    No, you have no idea how sovereign economies work. Taxes don’t fund government spending. Learn about economics before you complain about the number being too high.
    - imgabe 2y ago
      > Taxes don’t fund government spending. Cool, then let's just do away with them altogether. This is great news. All those people saying I needed to pay taxes so I can have roads and schools and a military and everything must be wrong.
      - amrocha 2y ago
        Again, go read up on economics. You have no idea what you’re talking about.
        imgabe 2y ago
        Smugly insinuating that you’re right without providing any sort of reasoning does not make you look as cool and smart as you think it does.
        amrocha 2y ago
        You arguments so far have been “the number is too big” and “let’s get rid of all taxes” so I don’t feel like you’re very serious about having a discussion.