Thread: Taxes, who needs 'em?

Neatorama » Blog Archive » Governments Fund the Darnedest Things.

This is where our tax dlloars go to, and people want to raise them. Why do you trust the government to put our tax dollars to good use? How about we have privately owned programs, and then you can give all the money you want to whatever organization?

Originally Posted by davisjr1990

Neatorama » Blog Archive » Governments Fund the Darnedest Things.

This is where our tax dlloars go to, and people want to raise them.

Well I can definitively state that you have never heard this from me.

Why do you trust the government to put our tax dollars to good use?

I don't trust the government to do anything good. It's sort of an oxymoron.

How about we have privately owned programs, and then you can give all the money you want to whatever organization?

What programs would those be? And you are free to give as much money as you like to whatever organization you want insofar as I know.

"Taxes, who needs 'em"
Lets see now,
Illegal immigrants
Foreign aid
Corporations
That's 3 that "needs' 'em"

We obviously need a huge overhaul of the tax system.

The first thing I would want is to have the tax one pays be related to the service provided. A telephone tax to pay for the spanish/american war is ridiculous. And a fire protection tax would make more sense than a property tax. The amount of a fire tax could be related to the risk/size/sprinklers/etc. of a home rather than the assessed value.

Maybe we could even do away with some of these taxes and have fees for services. The government could be a provider of service but we could break the monopoly and have other providers too.

Am I saying I would do away with the safety net for the poor. No, I benefit by having poor provided for.

But we do need more transparency and accountability.

Originally Posted by davisjr1990

Neatorama » Blog Archive » Governments Fund the Darnedest Things.

This is where our tax dlloars go to, and people want to raise them. Why do you trust the government to put our tax dollars to good use? How about we have privately owned programs, and then you can give all the money you want to whatever organization?

People are not generous enough. And it’s understatement.

Originally Posted by Alien Traveler

People are not generous enough. And it’s understatement.

The united states is the most generous country in the world. Where government programs don't exist private programs fill the void. Where private programs were replaced by government programs they became burdensome.

Generosity is not even needed in most situations. People will pay fees to receive the benefits they want. If I want my kid to go to school I will gladly pay for it. (Many people pay school taxes and then pay private tuition on top of that.) If I want my neighbor's kids to go to school I will pay for that too. And I do want my neighbors kids to go to school. An educated population benefits us all.


Even if giving were voluntary, if one person does not pay for the neighbor's kid's schooling he might pay for the national defense. This would make up for the person who didn't pay for the national defense but did pay for schooling. If no one paid for the National Endowment for the Arts we might be better off. And if people did pay for the arts programs then at least they were not forced to.

There are lots of things that people pay for all the time that they don't need to pay for - they choose to pay. There are bookstores all over my town. And people pay for the books in those stores everyday. There is also a library in my town and people pay for the books in the library through their taxes. Why should the person who never visits the library be forced to pay for the books that my kids read because we visit every week? I recently moved. In the last city I lived in I paid about $300/year in library taxes. I also paid about $100/yr in overdue fines. I could have bought and kept a lot of books for $400/yr. When I went to a private college I had access to the private library which was not supported by taxes. At times I also visited a private library which was open to the public. I think it was funded by a private professional association.


So yes we are very generous and no generousity is not always needed.

Originally Posted by davisjr1990

How about we have privately owned programs, and then you can give all the money you want to whatever organization?

BECAUSE MOST WOULD NOT GIVE!
Privatize schools, and there you can save some money public schools are such a waste of time and tax payers money.

Originally Posted by NickInNC

BECAUSE MOST WOULD NOT GIVE!

Thanks. It’s exactly what I wanted to say.

The honest truth is that I wouldn't gove my money to programs if I had to. And I'm a bleeding heart! I know that if I would not then many people wouldn't. The best and most fair way to tax is to have a national sales tax! Fairtax.org os perfect for it! I think what some people say of a 23% is tooo high I think a 17% tax would be perfect. Put it on everything except food and clothing under $100. I would tax people who buy cars a flat rate of 25% (mainly cause I hate cars)

Originally Posted by NickInNC

The honest truth is that I wouldn't gove my money to programs if I had to. And I'm a bleeding heart! I know that if I would not then many people wouldn't. The best and most fair way to tax is to have a national sales tax! Fairtax.org os perfect for it! I think what some people say of a 23% is tooo high I think a 17% tax would be perfect. Put it on everything except food and clothing under $100. I would tax people who buy cars a flat rate of 25% (mainly cause I hate cars)

People would pay. Just say a government subsidises a theatre society to encourage the arts. That is wrong because some people detest theatre and their taxes have paid for the subsidy. It would be better to reduce taxes by whatever small amount and not fund the theatre society. At this point one of two possibilities could emerge; either the society will die due to lack of funding or people will donate enough to keep it open. If it dies in that case it suggests it wasn't worth being kept open in the first place!
Taxes should be pared down to the minimum. A ten percent flat income tax would be sufficient to fund infrastructure, police/army and regulation bodies. Every other government responsiblity could be privatised.