this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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Tax is not theft
I assume this opinion is pretty popular among the left
Comrades
It's not theft, IF the government puts that money to good use e.g. health care, education, maintain roads, utilities, ...
Taxation isn't theft, but misuse of tax revenue is.
Maybe also unpopular, but my standpoint on taxes is: The government is the one giving out the money in the first place. Every dollar comes from the Fed (exception some virtual money) like the monopoly bank just gives out money in the first place.ย
The point of taxes is to keep the economy working fairly. Like putting high taxes on something to discourage bad behavior, and the other way around. Also, it's necessary to keep capitalism from evolving into feudalism, as money likes to accumulate on a few rich ones.
The second thought is what the government should with the money. Of course, they should do great and needed investments. Often times, this is not the case, but the root problems here are not taxes themselves. There is no alternative universe where the government is spending all money perfectly.
The real problem is the rich being able to evade taxes, and they frame taxes as something unfair. Additionally, not rich people pay far too much in taxes.
The problem is getting those under that government to agree on what good uses are.
I would simplify taxes as being the cost of being part of society and therefore the tax money should be put back into that society to benefit the people being part of it. Healthcare, education, maintenance of public roads/buildings/parks/...
I think of taxes the same way. I just meant that not everyone would agree on what what parts of society the government is responsible to fund. My primary thought was healthcare in the US because it feels like half the country is against that.
Yeah I never understood that ( I'm from Scandinavia or as your conservatives describe it - that socialist hellhole ). I recall seeing a study some years ago that the US spends many billions a year more on healthcare than it would with universal healthcare.
So what if my taxes pay for the treatment of someone's cancer? It goes the opposite way too, healthcare that I need is being paid for as well and nearly everyone needs some sort of hospital or emergency care at least once in their life - regular doc appointments likely once or twice a year. Over here, I make an appointment and walk out without paying or even seeing the bill.
That sounds so much better to me than the shit we have here. I always get so frustrated to hear people argue against it when the US is like the last fully developed country that doesn't have some form of single payer healthcare. Like, look around. There are plenty of examples of it working, but half the country just doesn't seem to get it.
I've had a conversation with someone on Reddit about this some years back.
They basically explained that people are being told that healthcare/social security is socialism and they're being told that socialism is just communism under a different name and therefore is bad.
Ah, so we can't have anything socialist because it's such a slippery slope to being full on commies.
As ridiculous as that sounds, that is basically the explanation they gave me.
That is not a controversial opinion, is it?
I thought so too, but Lemmy proofed me otherwise
Since I enjoy the idea of providing goodness for the masses regardless who and what they are, I approve taxes.
Well, as long as the tax money actually goes to make the country better for its people to live in.
If you delete your post, I can still see it
I didn't feel like trying to make the last sentence make sense lol
Lol. Wrong.
How?????