3 ms·

Wow. You left me speechless. In your earlier post, you mentioned that Government excels at wasting the taxpayer's money and you still want to give them money fo

Wow. You left me speechless. In your earlier post, you mentioned that Government excels at wasting the taxpayer's money and you still want to give them money for the 'common good'. [Personally, I am scared of everyone who talks about common good.] Have you ever thought about why government wastes money? As Milton Friedman put is succinctly, There are 3 ways to spend money. 1. Your money on yourself. [e.g. buying a car for yourself] 2. Your money on someone else. [e.g. buying a birthday gift for your friend.] 3. Someone else's money on someone else. [Your beloved government.] Ask yourself, out of these 3 scenarios, which one will get you the most bang for the buck? Yes, scenario 1, where you make sure that you get most out of your hard earned money. And you can bet that there will be tremendous waste of money in scenario 3, no exceptions. So my friend, tell me, why should I give my hard earned money to Government when I know that it will be wasted? Keeping the waste argument aside, let me talk about your comment that you think you are terrible at using your own money. Have you thought that not everyone thinks that they are not good with their money? [e.g. I think I am good at managing my money]. Just because you are not, is it fair for you to suggest higher tax rate for everyone? What about my freedom to decide what should I do with my own money? Mind you, I am not suggesting that there should not be any taxes. Only thing I am suggesting is that government taxes & their role in our day to day life should be minimum.

DannoHung 17y ago
You're completely misunderstanding my point: A little bit beyond subsistence, my money goes towards frivolous expenditures that have a significantly diminishing ROI in terms of happiness. I'm not running a business here. I'm just a dude. I don't have profits, I don't have shareholders, I can't issue dividends; maximizing my assets or cash on hand isn't going to make me feel a whole lot better. SO, if I am given more money, it isn't going to actually DO a whole lot for me, personally. Also, let me rephrase what I was saying about being bad about spending money: I'm not bad about managing it. I save much of my disposable income. I don't buy more than I earn. I don't have any credit problems. But when I do spend money beyond the basic necessities, it is nearly inevitably on things that aren't bettering me or the people around me. I don't make the world a better place when I dispose of my income. And if I had more money to just SPEND, I wouldn't actually be any happier for it.
- solutionyogi 17y ago
  Fine, if you want to give your money to Government, please do so. But for the love of God, don't suggest that everyone else should also give their hard earned money to the government and that government should raise taxes.
  - DannoHung 17y ago
    I didn't say that I wanted to raise taxes. I said I don't mind giving a fat chunk of it to the government. If someone decides to not pay their taxes though... well, I dunno, I don't think they should be surprised when they get charged with tax evasion.

DannoHung 17y ago

You're completely misunderstanding my point: A little bit beyond subsistence, my money goes towards frivolous expenditures that have a significantly diminishing ROI in terms of happiness. I'm not running a business here. I'm just a dude. I don't have profits, I don't have shareholders, I can't issue dividends; maximizing my assets or cash on hand isn't going to make me feel a whole lot better. SO, if I am given more money, it isn't going to actually DO a whole lot for me, personally. Also, let me rephrase what I was saying about being bad about spending money: I'm not bad about managing it. I save much of my disposable income. I don't buy more than I earn. I don't have any credit problems. But when I do spend money beyond the basic necessities, it is nearly inevitably on things that aren't bettering me or the people around me. I don't make the world a better place when I dispose of my income. And if I had more money to just SPEND, I wouldn't actually be any happier for it.

solutionyogi 17y ago
Fine, if you want to give your money to Government, please do so. But for the love of God, don't suggest that everyone else should also give their hard earned money to the government and that government should raise taxes.
- DannoHung 17y ago
  I didn't say that I wanted to raise taxes. I said I don't mind giving a fat chunk of it to the government. If someone decides to not pay their taxes though... well, I dunno, I don't think they should be surprised when they get charged with tax evasion.