why do we pay so much in taxes?

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a777pilot

Diamond Member
Apr 26, 2011
4,261
21
81
I have a more interesting question then why are our taxes so high. My question is: Why do we tax income and property in the first place? It makes no sense at all.
 

a777pilot

Diamond Member
Apr 26, 2011
4,261
21
81
Why would that not make sense?

If you tax income you are taxing work. Work and jobs are a good thing and should be encouraged.

If you tax property you are taxing the success of that work and also killing the freedom of private property. If you don't think property taxes is an impediment to ownership of private property, try not paying your county property taxes and sees what happens to your home.

The only reason for these two taxes is that they are easy to tax.

Sales, use and consumption taxes are what this nation started with and that ought to be good enough. If that means we have to reduce the size and scope of the various governments.....so be it.
 

fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
85,586
50,771
136
If you tax income you are taxing work. Work and jobs are a good thing and should be encouraged.

If you tax property you are taxing the success of that work and also killing the freedom of private property. If you don't think property taxes is an impediment to ownership of private property, try not paying your county property taxes and sees what happens to your home.

The only reason for these two taxes is that they are easy to tax.

Sales, use and consumption taxes are what this nation started with and that ought to be good enough. If that means we have to reduce the size and scope of the various governments.....so be it.

Sales, use, and consumption taxes are taxes on trade. Trade is a good thing and should be encouraged. If you tax trade you are interfering with the law of comparative advantage, forcing people to work in inefficient ways. This isn't taxed more because it's easy to avoid.

I don't have the slightest clue why the argument of 'this is how they did it more than two centuries ago' is a good reason for doing it today, as the world now is a very different place than it was in 1789. They also used bloodletting to cure illness in the 1700s and 1800s, should that be an argument for its use today?
 

a777pilot

Diamond Member
Apr 26, 2011
4,261
21
81
Sales, use, and consumption taxes are taxes on trade. Trade is a good thing and should be encouraged. If you tax trade you are interfering with the law of comparative advantage, forcing people to work in inefficient ways. This isn't taxed more because it's easy to avoid.

I don't have the slightest clue why the argument of 'this is how they did it more than two centuries ago' is a good reason for doing it today, as the world now is a very different place than it was in 1789. They also used bloodletting to cure illness in the 1700s and 1800s, should that be an argument for its use today?

I agree, medicine has changed. Commerce has not.

We pay too much in taxes. We tax the wrong things. The federal government is way too intrusive and spends way too much.
 

fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
85,586
50,771
136
I agree, medicine has changed. Commerce has not.

We pay too much in taxes. We tax the wrong things. The federal government is way too intrusive and spends way too much.

You seriously don't think commerce has changed in the last two centuries?

I don't really care if you think we pay too much in taxes, we'll just have to agree to disagree.
 

a777pilot

Diamond Member
Apr 26, 2011
4,261
21
81
You seriously don't think commerce has changed in the last two centuries?

I don't really care if you think we pay too much in taxes, we'll just have to agree to disagree.

Commerce is the same, only the products have changed.

So you think our taxes are at the right level or do you think taxes should be raised?
 

JSt0rm

Lifer
Sep 5, 2000
27,399
3,947
126
If you tax income you are taxing work. Work and jobs are a good thing and should be encouraged.

If you tax property you are taxing the success of that work and also killing the freedom of private property. If you don't think property taxes is an impediment to ownership of private property, try not paying your county property taxes and sees what happens to your home.

The only reason for these two taxes is that they are easy to tax.

We should tax fail. Your tax rate would be 90% though.
 

PeshakJang

Platinum Member
Mar 17, 2010
2,276
0
0
I have to pay taxes to support military layabouts like yourself, so it looks like socialism is already working really good for you.

So now all government is socialism? Got it, at least we clarified your position. It's either socialism or anarchy, right?

PS - Military is one of the enumerated functions of government, and I work for my paycheck.

PPS - I also have a career in the private sector, and I pay taxes too. I know! Unheard of!
 

PeshakJang

Platinum Member
Mar 17, 2010
2,276
0
0
What the hell are you talking about?

I'm going to take what you have and give it to somebody else. I am doing this because it is a good idea. Because it is such a good idea, I do it at the point of a gun.

Dumbed down enough for you?
 

jonks

Lifer
Feb 7, 2005
13,918
20
81
Are taxes about right or should they be raised?

1) I tend to avoid new posters until they shed their trollish foreskin, unfortunately it usually takes more than 8 days. It's ok, I've been there. But this is the last you'll hear directly from me for a while.

2) Oh, they absolutely need to go up on some people.
 

fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
85,586
50,771
136
So now all government is socialism? Got it, at least we clarified your position. It's either socialism or anarchy, right?

PS - Military is one of the enumerated functions of government, and I work for my paycheck.

PPS - I also have a career in the private sector, and I pay taxes too. I know! Unheard of!

This comes from the retarded definition of socialism that gets thrown around here. Our military is in fact socialized in that it is communally resourced. So yes, you work for a socialized industry. All government is on a spectrum, from anarchy on the extreme right to some sort of ultra communism on the left, depending on the degree of the economy that is socialized.

If you think people saying the military is socialism are dumb, then maybe people should stop calling every single increase in regulation socialism. Technically they all are, but as you can see the term isn't accurately describing what people think of when they say 'socialism'.
 

fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
85,586
50,771
136
I'm going to take what you have and give it to somebody else. I am doing this because it is a good idea. Because it is such a good idea, I do it at the point of a gun.

Dumbed down enough for you?

It's certainly dumb. The mechanism of enforcement for an idea is not an independent measure of its quality.
 

fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
85,586
50,771
136
Commerce is the same, only the products have changed.

So you think our taxes are at the right level or do you think taxes should be raised?

Commerce is the same in the way that medicine is the same. Both continue to have the same goal, but many of the processes have changed radically.
 

a777pilot

Diamond Member
Apr 26, 2011
4,261
21
81
1) I tend to avoid new posters until they shed their trollish foreskin, unfortunately it usually takes more than 8 days. It's ok, I've been there. But this is the last you'll hear directly from me for a while.

2) Oh, they absolutely need to go up on some people.

Define..."some people".

So you are donating money to the IRS over and above your normal taxes? Good for you.

p.s., I am on many different forums and I have learned that I do not need your permission nor your approval to post. If you think what I post is a troll, it just means you disagree with my position and have no answer.