I want to cancel my service. I didn't order thousands of foreign women and children getting bombed, and shot, and millions jailed for victimless crimes. 1/10 would not recommend.
People are getting rid of cable and switching to streaming because they can't choose channels and services a la carte. Cable is dying.
America needs to switch to a la carte services. I'm definitely willing to pay for the roads and a lot more. I'm not big into paying for the tools used in war crimes by foreign nations
That's a terrible idea, same level as exempting people from school taxes if they don't have kids.
The obvious problem is that people won't (and in most cases can't) think their decisions through. I would be very impressed if 1% of the population could tell you want a 10% decrease in tax revenue to defense, Medicare, or "income security" would do, because those systems are enormously complex, especially in long-term and downstream effects.
But even more, it's so exploitable. If you've ever seen a local ballot measure that was wordsmithed to be confusing, you get what I mean. Whoever gets the final say on how those tax options are worded has massive control on the level of funding. Social security taxes could be explained as "Government income for those who choose not to work and should have planned for additional income streams."
>That's a terrible idea, same level as exempting people from school taxes if they don't have kids.
Here's a big difference in those two trains of thought:
Whether or not you have kids, it is beneficial to have an educated population. There are too many stupid people in the world and I cite that as a reason that I dont want kids. In that regard, i definitely dont want to be surrounded by a new generation of idiots being raised by the current idiots, so I will contribute to schools in an effort to change those circumstances entirely.
On the other hand, not wanting to pay for endless foreign wars for the benefit of our oligarchs and the destruction of everything else is not only the moral position, but one that has to be held by the majority of people. Otherwise we would nuke ourselves into extinction.
Everyone should have the option to peacefully abstain from conflict. Especially foreign conflicts.
That's pretty much what we're asking for.
I really doubt that anyone feels the need to pick where each and every dime of their taxes gets allocated, but I know pretty much everyone can tell you some things that they absolutely do not want it going towards.
I was taught that I live in a country that fought for independence based on the notion of "no taxation without representation." Well I haven't felt represented properly for a single moment of my life and its beyond out of hand.
tecolotl wrote: "i wish there were some way to keep a functional tax system and also not bomb people."
You replied : "That's pretty much what we're asking for."
You failed to realize though that what your asking for is not something that can be done. Aelynir went in depth on this above and you just hand waved it away.
The problem is twofold:
1. Many people will NOT contribute to the system and it would completely collapse, hence why we have this system.
2. Of those that do contribute imagine how little of some systems would be funded and others massively funded. Your one person, others would decide to place their tax money elsewhere and good luck with that being functional.
You stated this well. I feel like we have loons, on both sides, well represented but the 'median American' no longer has a representative. The normies don't even bother running for office any longer.
>The normies don't even bother running for office any longer.
"The major problem—one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.
To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.
To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job."
Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #2)
The normies never have run for office, by definition.
Whose “we” when you says “we’re”?
You know if y’all started dictating where your taxes would go, you’d still put it towards military. You’d all get scared shitless the second you realized how dangerous it is to stop funding the military. The second something like 9/11 happens again you’d all willingly vote to fund the military with the tax dollars
You guys totally overestimate how many people will 100% willingly allow their tax dollars to go to war, given the chance to dictate where their taxes go.
Endless war is what gives you the quality of life you have come to expect living in the US though. It may not be pleasant but the reality is our society is built on the toil and suffering of others. Always was always has been, always will be. That's not unique to America though. Every apex civilization has gotten to that point, and maintained that point, because they are militarily unmatched.
Part of being militarily unmatched is both soft and hard power which extends our reach to every corner of the globe. Sometimes it's selling bombs. Sometimes it's sending bombs.
Seriously. All these people saying “if I could dictate where my taxes could go, I’d stop sending them to the military!” Are fucking stupid. The second something like 9/11 happens again you’d all be shitting yourselves
Where do I find this non-idiotic new generation funded through our tax dollars? I look around, and I don't like what I am seeing. How can I get my money back? Thanks.
I agree with the education, with one big caveat.
My taxes should go to public school education only. In MO, the state is offering vouchers for private schools, the majority of which are non secular.
I'm all for providing education, but the hard line is giving money to religious private schools, which is defacto giving free untaxable money to religious institutions. That's a hard fucking no.
Agreed! I'd feel a lot different about our taxes if our electric grid was upgraded. As well as our critical infrastructure like roads and bridges. The water pipes in flint that still haven't been addressed.
It also saddens me to see so much money available for foreign aid yet very little to help citizens affected by a natural disaster.
*raises eyebrow* ... Baltimore? Oh wait.. wrong direction.
Edit: actually thinking about it.. the restructure of Mobile,AL Bridge going out of Florida has been being out together for some.time ... and a rebuild of the bridge from Pensacola to Gulf Breeze,FL. And crazy amount of work on I 95 bridge and overpass system in Philly.. it's just how long it takes... and how it's really the States and local organizing.
I mean, in the instantaneousness of everything, why not get to vote directly on everything we want? Like, why can’t I get notification to vote on a bill and the majority rule becomes law? I know, we are a republic.. but it doesn’t seem like we REALLY need one anymore. We can all vote on shit we do and don’t want. Of course, this would require TONS of citizens to toon into EVERYTHING all the time, but it’s just an idea. We don’t really need a direct representative anymore
Roads can easily be privatized and they would be in much better shape. Tolls vs taxes. If you don't like the fee or the condition of the road, you pick a better option. The government is pretty terrible and wasteful with everything they do.
So how exactly this a la carte country works if foreign soldier invades your home, rapes your wife, kills you with a headshot and drafts your sons to their army so they rinse and repeat? US army should just watch and say “not our problem, he didn’t pay”?
Exactly - the police and military don’t care. I received a death threat over the phone and upon telling the the local police station, an officer told me there was nothing they could do and “have I considered taking self defense classes?”… well, what the fuck am I paying your salary for then? (Didn’t say that cause I know cops have short fuse tempers..)
It's very hard to renounce your citizenship, you need another citizenship, and you need an acceptable reason (not wanting to pay taxes isn't a valid one).
Moving to another country is a long and difficult process, not to mention there's a cost involved as well. Often times you'll find that there's similar points of contention in other countries, which kind of defeats the purpose. It's probably better to find ways to better contribute to your own country in ways that are agreeable to you, instead of trying to go to someone else's country and act up there....
>Moving to another country is a long and difficult process, not to mention there's a cost involved as well.
It is. Just like switching jobs or switching homes. Basically every change you make in your life has a cost associated.
No, not like that lol people just want to complain and virtue signal online. No one ever really has any conviction behind their "hatred" of their own country.
Then you should LOVE taxes that pay for a policed society where people can generally expect to possess property without a bigger, badder person taking it from them.
We can all cherry pick stuff we don't like about government but a well funded and staffed government is in many ways what keeps a first world society possible.
I wish we had more public transit instead of massive highways going through cities but that’s the fault of auto companies lobbying against public transit to protect their profits. A lot of bad things the government does is a fault of some sort of corporate lobbying.
Not paying taxes and still using public utilities/roads/programs etc is obviously going to get you in trouble.
If you dont like a country, move out. There's plenty of others to move to.
Ideally you could vote out the people that are using our taxes poorly, or somehow influence their vote.
Unfortunately big firms with millions in lobbying spend mean more to a senator or rep than a couple thousand assholes in their district.
People don't hate taxes. ***they hate waste.***
When they government took their tax dollars and started spending it on stupid shit, started having the CIA use it to buy cocaine, sell it to Americans, use that money to buy guns to sell to Iranians, and then lock them up in prison for buying the cocaine the government sold to them with their own money....
Well....people got a bit jaded on the whole concept.
Chicago roads only get fixed once a certain threshold of reports come in. This pothole has damaged 20 vehicles but only 78 calls have reported it so far? We'll wait for call #100.
In the -very- specific case of Chicago, this is not surprising. The city itself does not actually legally own its own roads, they effectively “sold them” to private interests to raise some revenue for the city, which did raise revenue for needed projects at the time, but has had incredibly awful long term ramifications…. Because it turns out private interests are motivated to maximize revenue and minimize costs, meaning they won’t do or allow any work on the streets until a certain threshold is met. It’s actually really, really fucked up, but not related to taxes and their utilization.
Arnold had to personally fix a pothole near where he lives. If Beverly Hills claims that they don't get enough taxes, I wonder where all that money went.
Hmmm... let me think. I'm being told day in and day out that my tax dollars are suppised to:
Fix the roads: yet every time it rains I have to play a game called "Puddle or Pothole"
Fund the schools: yet we keep being told to pay even more and at the same time keep getting worse results
Defend the country: yet we're getting invaded with mass illegal immigration which suppresses wages and drains public resources here at home and at the same spend more time defending OTHER nations from invasion.
Police the streets: Yet the police are not allowed to enforce the laws because DA's refuse to prosecute, OR the police are so mistrusted that they can't enter certain neighborhoods
.....all that, and I'm told I'm a horrible person if I object to raising taxes. Miss me with this nonsense.
That's because you suppose that you pay enough taxes locally to simply keep the roads in check. Which is likely not the case if you live in suburbs.
Yeah, at 1-2 million dollars the mile for a cheap streets, having to be paid every 25 years, there ain't a lot of US streets with a high enough density to not be money pits. But you hear americans whining as soon as you suggest that *maybe* american towns should be organised to cut costs, and lower taxes. Even if it means not everybody had a backyard.
Immigration does not take our jobs. Lmao immigrants pick vegetables from your grocery store for much less than what you would make doing it so farmers and corps can make a profit
Except you never actually signed up for the subscription, nor agreed to it's terms, nor are you getting a pretty good service anyway, and getting out of the subscription is a massive hastle.
Let's not compare voluntary actions like signing up for something, and being forced into one. This is a terrible comparison.
Because, as a lot of responses in this thread prove, people don't appreciate that 90-something percent of the taxes they pay go to helping all the citizens of their country *including themselves*, but they absolutely *rage* at the thought of a few of their tax dollars going towards things they personally don't want.
Not realizing that every single taxpayer in this country is supporting something they probably are personally opposed to, but that particular *something* is different from person-to-person.
Taxes are the yearly maintenance fee for living in a society and not a lawless anarchy or a truly sociopathic libertarian "paradise".
I am in similar boat
Pay, just in federal income (not payroll or state etc) like 35k for family
But my dad used to say "if you can complain about paying too much in tax you have nothing to complain about"
And he is right
I don't worry about anything financially so I can't complain
I hate taxes because I work as an EMT (for now) without adequate pay and even then I get a shit ton taken out of my taxes. Where do those dollars go? God fucking knows. So much gets wasted on useless bureaucrats and nonsense programs while the things that need funding get screwed. Also I don’t get to decide where my taxes go. So essentially they take my money under threat of violence and then waste it.
Nobody loves taxes, that Im aware of. A majority understand the intent of taxes and get on board, however most of the argument over them is based on what everyone perceives that said taxes go to. People like roads, emergency services, police, fire, parks, transit, schools,defense so on and so forth. From what I hear day after day is hidden spending people have qualms with. Bloat in government, spending without tangible results or common sense ROI. Transparency would help with some of this Im sure.
Some people need to travel more. We love our maintained roads. Utilities that get repaired promptly when there are outages. Good Schools and universities. Good Hospitals. Businesses not getting threatened by a cartels. Security from foreign countries. Security to walk at night. Career opportunities. The list goes on. It may not be true for everyone everywhere but it is a privilege to live on a first word county. Ask anyone who doesn’t.
They should offer an opt-out service whereby your rubbish isn't taken away, you're not allowed to use public roads, the police and fire department won't help you, no public heathcare, no child benefit (or any benefits), no state pension, you're forcibly conscripted into the army when needed, no access to public parks or spaces...
I'm sure you get the point. Pay your taxes.
People hate taxes when they feel the government is taking more from them than they're getting back. Most people aren't totally against social security, Medicare, interstate highways, the military, and so on... but that doesn't negate people feeling bad every time they look at their paycheck and see how much has been deducted YTD, or when they see the government spending billions on policy they voted against. If tax rates were lower or if the positive impacts from taxation were more obvious in everyday life, not as many people would be against the current tax system.
To use this analogy: I am paying for a subscription but even though I pay i am not allowed some of the features. Others who pay less than me are allowed these features. I pay more than others to do the same features.
Analogies by their nature are imperfect…they break down. Taxes aren’t exactly like a subscription (though there may be superficial similarities) obviously. Unfortunately, the problem I find with many people is that their level of understanding can’t go beyond analogies.
Older generations aren't used to every goddamn thing being available by yearly subscription. Taxes arent like a yearly subscription, subscriptions are like taxes.
People hate taxes because the taxes collected are used improperly. We don’t need to spend a trillion a year on war and we don’t need to pay the pompous assholes in congress and the senate to do nothing for years while holding back wages brace they think we make too much….corporations paying politicians for kickbacks and tax cuts putting the strain on the lower and middle class while the rich get richer. I say tax the fuck outa the rich or we eat em. I’m sick and tired of getting 20 cent raises while inflation hits us like bricks and they think they are doing us a favor. Or here’s a pizza party because you’ve done such a good job. Fuck that. Pay people a real wage or suffer.
It’s we the people not the government over the masses. We have to hold the government accountable for their actions and demand they start lowering the deficit or we are all fucked. Tax the hell outta the rich. Who needs over a million a year? Greasy greedy assholes that’s who. Same said for anyone making over a 100k a year in my book. Fuck yall rich pricks.
This is a problem. Federal taxes don't include the payroll tax that covers Social Security and Medicare. But it's the top 50% of earners who contribute almost all of the nation's federal taxes — nearly **98%**. The bottom 50%, who individually make below $46,637 annually, account for about 2.3% of the country's tax receipts
It would be one thing if tax revenue was spent productively. But we are nearing the point where total interest on the national debt catches up with annual tax revenue. So to have the government get a slice of every dollar each time it changes hands while we have crumbling infrastructure, a failing public education system, foreign aid obligations not in the best interest of our citizens, etc. and no plan to deal with the debt, yes, some folks get rubbed the wrong way.
I hate taxes because the tax code is deliberately complicated made more and more complex every year in order to force more and more people to use the services of the tax preparation industry. The money we paid to this tax preparation industry gets funneled back to the politicians in the form of donations.. so it's a vicious cycle and the tax code is getting more and more complicated every year and tax returns are getting more and more complicated every year. No other nation in the world has this torture extortion tax return system
The Forbes 400 paid 8.2 percent over recent years.
The top marginal tax rate was 70 percent when Reagan took office and 28 percent when he left. The rich have been swimming in wealth ever since and deregulation has made it even worse.
I don't hate taxes. But public funding always nets diminishing returns for increased corruption and there is definitely a point at which you are actually making things worse by throwing more money at your problems.
People treat public services like a linear equation of funds input to quality output. And if you say that you are sick of your money being taken to further entrench an increasingly corrupt bureaucracy, then you get legions of mouthbreathers screaming at you about "people over profits" and "just admit you hate poor people".
It's beyond obnoxious and actively detrimental.
People hate paying for a government to fail at fixing problems. If we prioritized citizens and cleaned up issues you wouldn’t hear the same complaints.
I am tired of trying to figure out if I'm entitled to certain tax breaks or credits and having to spend hours finding receipts and crap.
The IRS knows how much I owe or how much they owe me send me the check or send me the bill and fuck off.
I don’t hate taxes per se. I just hate that we don’t all pay the same tax rate.
If only somebody would come up with a better plan. Call it something like 999 or something catchy like that.
Always, before civilization, before government, there was a strongest protection racket in town, and if you wished to keep your arms unbroken etc, you paid it your fare.
Complaining about taxes is like complaining about rain.
People hate taxes for a number of reasons.
Here are mine:
1) I don’t “pay” federal taxes. They are stolen from me. In any other venue, the way our federal taxes are collected would be considered theft.
2) There aren’t many people who on-net pay federal taxes, certainly not a significant amount, yet many of those people will tell me that I don’t pay enough. Taxes are used as another wedge issue to keep people divided. To go along with this is the fact that the people who pay the most in taxes to the government receive the least in return for their taxes; while the people who pay very little (or nothing at all) receive the goodies.
3) Many people assume that the government should take in at least a certain percentage of GDP. Nobody explains why that is the case. Uncle Sam is not a good steward of our money, why should we accept that the government should collect a certain percentage of the productive sector’s earnings when they completely mismanage what they receive currently?
I could go on, but I’m sure you get the point…
Cause I have to pay to get my taxes done. I have to figure out what taxes I owe and if I mess it up then I get penalized plus interest. The IRS is the fucking mafia.
They could make me a fan by doing a few things. Stop making me guess and just make a simplified tax code where I don’t have to “file”. Make it fair and stop letting business cheat the system while targeting middle class and poor. And finally, actually use the tax money to improve the lives of your citizens.
Edit: and of course i live in USA.
I am fine with paying my state and local taxes. That’s actually not much money and it is used well. The federal taxes on the other hand are basically like dumping a huge chunk of money into a dumpster fire and burning it. It is easily 8x my state taxes and I get 1/100th the value from it.
I’m not anti-tax (although I may sound so at Thanksgiving with a couple of drinks in me, across the table from my Bernie-Sis SIL)—the truth is I’m anti-waste. And the various governments that take 35-ish percent of my annual earnings, plus sales and gas taxes besides, are clearly wasting tremendous amounts of money that I work for free to send them through the first week of May or so.
Life’s good in the US, and even all that wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t pull up the news to find another clip of a civil servant calling me privileged, or a racist, or reminding me how bad slavery was. They have no problem with slavery once they get that whip in their own hands.
I trim my family’s waste to keep us financially solvent, and it’s hard. It takes restraint and impulse denial. Why can’t they publicly demonstrate a modicum of stewardship over our earnings that they collect?
People hate taxes cause they don't really benefit from their taxes in a way they can see. People in countries like Japan, where I currently am, have a more favorable view of taxes but this makes sense they are surrounded by things that are paid for by their taxes, like it's very obvious and feels well funded.
Americans specifically have the benefit of the strongest currency on earth one of the most diverse economies on earth and access to investment opportunities that are the best in the world. All because we kill people around the world with our giant global police force and maintain a massive monopoly on global influence. That's not as visible to a person walking down the street as many might think.
Because I’m paying 40% of my hard earned income, 90% of that money goes to a bunch of things I will never see the benefit from. I’ll never receive Medicaid, or social security. I morally object to funding the war machine. Meanwhile, the government Im paying mismanages so much money that they are digging a deeper and deeper hole of debt, along side printing trillions of dollars every year that devalues my savings and makes my life more difficult.
because theyre uneducated, dont think too hard on the matter, and take what theyre given for granted.
Though, to be fair, the American tax system is whack and desperately requires revision in order to be sustainable. Turbo Tax capitalism is a disease.
I have no qualm with the base idea of taxes.
What I have a qualm with is how said taxes are being spent by our government.
All I'm saying is I'd like a little less of my taxes going to a bloated defense budget and towards something like providing fucking healthcare for the American people.
If they gave us the option to allocate how our tax dollars are spent on a yearly ballot and were then forced to abide by the will of the people, you’d see way less hate on taxes. Unfortunately, we’re stuck with a trillion bucks a year going to keep the military industrial complex running at full steam.
I pay 500 dollars a week in taxes and I can barely afford my tiny 50 year old townhouse and very modest car. We have a strict budget, don't eat out, haven't been on vacation in a couple years. Then I turn on the TV and see we sent like a gazillion dollars to other countries to fund their wars. I dont hate taxes but I do think that most people's taxes could be cut In half if we would just control our fucking spending.
Taxes would be great if they were applied correctly and spent on the people. This is nonsense. Taxes are a tool and they are useful when used to support the needs of society.
Taxes (all, not just federal income) are your biggest expense and likely provide you with the least benefit to cost ratio.
If the government was transparent and efficient, I wouldn’t care as much.
Because people think hating taxes makes it look like they "know something about money" equal to the rich and powerful.
Plus, the people who want to pretend to be oppressed by the cost of public services and LARP like the founding fathers.
Because people don't understand that without the military, we'd all be wearing swastikas...
The rest of the taxes should go to the border and the courts. The rest can go away
I don’t have a problem with taxes. Taxes are how we get roads built, military paid and police and fire services for our communities. I have a problem with all the garbage we spend it on.
Its less that taxes are irritating it's the misuse of them and the complete lack of being in the conversation in regards to how it's spent. Instead my money I make from taking care of crippled and disabled animals is going to bombing children and women so :/
Dont hate taxes i hate government waste i think we need to cap entitlements and stop giving money to foreign countries. Los angeles has spent billions of tax payer funds on homeless and all its done is make it worse. They built 70 something dorm style apartments that cost 750k each. Thats more than median houses at the time. They put their buddies in executive positions in non profits and funnel billions to their salaries.
Its mostly we hate the little return we get
If it's a subscription service, shouldn't it be a fixed price like $10k/year or whatever?
Since when Netflix charges by percentage of your income (and worse, in a progressive manner)?
No, taxes are confiscated from you against your will, and if you don’t pay guys with guns will show up and take you to prison. Not like a subscription at all.
I want to cancel my service. I didn't order thousands of foreign women and children getting bombed, and shot, and millions jailed for victimless crimes. 1/10 would not recommend.
But you literally can cancel your subscription, you would just no longer get access to the US, except for travel
People are getting rid of cable and switching to streaming because they can't choose channels and services a la carte. Cable is dying. America needs to switch to a la carte services. I'm definitely willing to pay for the roads and a lot more. I'm not big into paying for the tools used in war crimes by foreign nations
That's a terrible idea, same level as exempting people from school taxes if they don't have kids. The obvious problem is that people won't (and in most cases can't) think their decisions through. I would be very impressed if 1% of the population could tell you want a 10% decrease in tax revenue to defense, Medicare, or "income security" would do, because those systems are enormously complex, especially in long-term and downstream effects. But even more, it's so exploitable. If you've ever seen a local ballot measure that was wordsmithed to be confusing, you get what I mean. Whoever gets the final say on how those tax options are worded has massive control on the level of funding. Social security taxes could be explained as "Government income for those who choose not to work and should have planned for additional income streams."
>That's a terrible idea, same level as exempting people from school taxes if they don't have kids. Here's a big difference in those two trains of thought: Whether or not you have kids, it is beneficial to have an educated population. There are too many stupid people in the world and I cite that as a reason that I dont want kids. In that regard, i definitely dont want to be surrounded by a new generation of idiots being raised by the current idiots, so I will contribute to schools in an effort to change those circumstances entirely. On the other hand, not wanting to pay for endless foreign wars for the benefit of our oligarchs and the destruction of everything else is not only the moral position, but one that has to be held by the majority of people. Otherwise we would nuke ourselves into extinction. Everyone should have the option to peacefully abstain from conflict. Especially foreign conflicts.
i wish there were some way to keep a functional tax system and also not bomb people.
That's pretty much what we're asking for. I really doubt that anyone feels the need to pick where each and every dime of their taxes gets allocated, but I know pretty much everyone can tell you some things that they absolutely do not want it going towards. I was taught that I live in a country that fought for independence based on the notion of "no taxation without representation." Well I haven't felt represented properly for a single moment of my life and its beyond out of hand.
tecolotl wrote: "i wish there were some way to keep a functional tax system and also not bomb people." You replied : "That's pretty much what we're asking for." You failed to realize though that what your asking for is not something that can be done. Aelynir went in depth on this above and you just hand waved it away. The problem is twofold: 1. Many people will NOT contribute to the system and it would completely collapse, hence why we have this system. 2. Of those that do contribute imagine how little of some systems would be funded and others massively funded. Your one person, others would decide to place their tax money elsewhere and good luck with that being functional.
You stated this well. I feel like we have loons, on both sides, well represented but the 'median American' no longer has a representative. The normies don't even bother running for office any longer.
>The normies don't even bother running for office any longer. "The major problem—one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them. To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job." Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #2) The normies never have run for office, by definition.
And what would representation of you look like?
Whose “we” when you says “we’re”? You know if y’all started dictating where your taxes would go, you’d still put it towards military. You’d all get scared shitless the second you realized how dangerous it is to stop funding the military. The second something like 9/11 happens again you’d all willingly vote to fund the military with the tax dollars
That’s what the votin’s for.
How has that worked out?
You guys totally overestimate how many people will 100% willingly allow their tax dollars to go to war, given the chance to dictate where their taxes go.
Endless war is what gives you the quality of life you have come to expect living in the US though. It may not be pleasant but the reality is our society is built on the toil and suffering of others. Always was always has been, always will be. That's not unique to America though. Every apex civilization has gotten to that point, and maintained that point, because they are militarily unmatched. Part of being militarily unmatched is both soft and hard power which extends our reach to every corner of the globe. Sometimes it's selling bombs. Sometimes it's sending bombs.
Seriously. All these people saying “if I could dictate where my taxes could go, I’d stop sending them to the military!” Are fucking stupid. The second something like 9/11 happens again you’d all be shitting yourselves
Having a high military budget makes it a pretty safe assumption as to that’s the reason we’re not ever attacked.
unfortunately, i am paying taxes and surrounded by idiots. what went wrong?
Where do I find this non-idiotic new generation funded through our tax dollars? I look around, and I don't like what I am seeing. How can I get my money back? Thanks.
I agree with the education, with one big caveat. My taxes should go to public school education only. In MO, the state is offering vouchers for private schools, the majority of which are non secular. I'm all for providing education, but the hard line is giving money to religious private schools, which is defacto giving free untaxable money to religious institutions. That's a hard fucking no.
Agreed! I'd feel a lot different about our taxes if our electric grid was upgraded. As well as our critical infrastructure like roads and bridges. The water pipes in flint that still haven't been addressed. It also saddens me to see so much money available for foreign aid yet very little to help citizens affected by a natural disaster.
Bridges? When was the last time you heard of anything major happening to a bridge? It just doesn't happen.
We just got a new bridge in my town
*raises eyebrow* ... Baltimore? Oh wait.. wrong direction. Edit: actually thinking about it.. the restructure of Mobile,AL Bridge going out of Florida has been being out together for some.time ... and a rebuild of the bridge from Pensacola to Gulf Breeze,FL. And crazy amount of work on I 95 bridge and overpass system in Philly.. it's just how long it takes... and how it's really the States and local organizing.
I mean, in the instantaneousness of everything, why not get to vote directly on everything we want? Like, why can’t I get notification to vote on a bill and the majority rule becomes law? I know, we are a republic.. but it doesn’t seem like we REALLY need one anymore. We can all vote on shit we do and don’t want. Of course, this would require TONS of citizens to toon into EVERYTHING all the time, but it’s just an idea. We don’t really need a direct representative anymore
Make it like emergency broadcast system over smart devices. Can't use the device until you vote. Or acknowledge you didn't.
Roads can easily be privatized and they would be in much better shape. Tolls vs taxes. If you don't like the fee or the condition of the road, you pick a better option. The government is pretty terrible and wasteful with everything they do.
Or police. They’re just the local miltary
That a la carte service ends up costing way more than the bundling. People just don’t realize the aftermath of what they are calling for.
So how exactly this a la carte country works if foreign soldier invades your home, rapes your wife, kills you with a headshot and drafts your sons to their army so they rinse and repeat? US army should just watch and say “not our problem, he didn’t pay”?
Stay strapped my man. It's that important. Who would stop someone from doing that now? Police would take an hour to get there.
Exactly - the police and military don’t care. I received a death threat over the phone and upon telling the the local police station, an officer told me there was nothing they could do and “have I considered taking self defense classes?”… well, what the fuck am I paying your salary for then? (Didn’t say that cause I know cops have short fuse tempers..)
You may only cancel your subscription if you can prove you have started a subscription with another service.
It's very hard to renounce your citizenship, you need another citizenship, and you need an acceptable reason (not wanting to pay taxes isn't a valid one).
In the US you have to pay to cancel your subscription
Assuming they let you, can't cancel your subscription to North Korea
You can move away, no one is stopping you
Moving to another country is a long and difficult process, not to mention there's a cost involved as well. Often times you'll find that there's similar points of contention in other countries, which kind of defeats the purpose. It's probably better to find ways to better contribute to your own country in ways that are agreeable to you, instead of trying to go to someone else's country and act up there....
>Moving to another country is a long and difficult process, not to mention there's a cost involved as well. It is. Just like switching jobs or switching homes. Basically every change you make in your life has a cost associated.
I mean tbf the immigration laws of other countries can stop you lol
No, not like that lol people just want to complain and virtue signal online. No one ever really has any conviction behind their "hatred" of their own country.
got a feeling you are in the 45% who don’t pay federal taxes
Do it?
I ordered a f22 raptor for my garage and didn't get that either. Sucks
There are exits in every direction. Feel free to use one.
Said the Klan to black people in the '50"s.
Redditors such as yourself are the whiniest mfs I swear
The subscription has become overpriced and it no longer benefits those who pay for it.
Gosh I love other people taking my stuff against my will.
And they you have to act benevolent for the services they force you to use
Then you should LOVE taxes that pay for a policed society where people can generally expect to possess property without a bigger, badder person taking it from them. We can all cherry pick stuff we don't like about government but a well funded and staffed government is in many ways what keeps a first world society possible.
That’s how I feel. I like publicly funded libraries. And public transportation.
I wish we had more public transit instead of massive highways going through cities but that’s the fault of auto companies lobbying against public transit to protect their profits. A lot of bad things the government does is a fault of some sort of corporate lobbying.
So stop paying and leave our society
Wait until you live in the libertarian utopia of company towns.
“Libertarianism is when big corporations” - Hamuel
What mechanisms does a libertarian government use to prevent abuse from corporations?
It’s not entirely your stuff unless you earned it with zero support from society.
If Netflix’s content becomes crap I don’t pay and cancel the subscription. If I feel the use of my taxes is crap I don’t pay and go to prison.
Not paying taxes and still using public utilities/roads/programs etc is obviously going to get you in trouble. If you dont like a country, move out. There's plenty of others to move to.
Ideally you could vote out the people that are using our taxes poorly, or somehow influence their vote. Unfortunately big firms with millions in lobbying spend mean more to a senator or rep than a couple thousand assholes in their district.
People don't hate taxes. ***they hate waste.*** When they government took their tax dollars and started spending it on stupid shit, started having the CIA use it to buy cocaine, sell it to Americans, use that money to buy guns to sell to Iranians, and then lock them up in prison for buying the cocaine the government sold to them with their own money.... Well....people got a bit jaded on the whole concept.
I’ve met wayyy too many “taxation is theft” believers
i mean sure if they actually fix the potholes as they claim. "you like roads right? you're a fan of roads?" yeah and they're not fixing it.
Chicago roads only get fixed once a certain threshold of reports come in. This pothole has damaged 20 vehicles but only 78 calls have reported it so far? We'll wait for call #100.
In the -very- specific case of Chicago, this is not surprising. The city itself does not actually legally own its own roads, they effectively “sold them” to private interests to raise some revenue for the city, which did raise revenue for needed projects at the time, but has had incredibly awful long term ramifications…. Because it turns out private interests are motivated to maximize revenue and minimize costs, meaning they won’t do or allow any work on the streets until a certain threshold is met. It’s actually really, really fucked up, but not related to taxes and their utilization.
Arnold had to personally fix a pothole near where he lives. If Beverly Hills claims that they don't get enough taxes, I wonder where all that money went.
Roads are hard. How about more bombs?
Hmmm... let me think. I'm being told day in and day out that my tax dollars are suppised to: Fix the roads: yet every time it rains I have to play a game called "Puddle or Pothole" Fund the schools: yet we keep being told to pay even more and at the same time keep getting worse results Defend the country: yet we're getting invaded with mass illegal immigration which suppresses wages and drains public resources here at home and at the same spend more time defending OTHER nations from invasion. Police the streets: Yet the police are not allowed to enforce the laws because DA's refuse to prosecute, OR the police are so mistrusted that they can't enter certain neighborhoods .....all that, and I'm told I'm a horrible person if I object to raising taxes. Miss me with this nonsense.
That's because you suppose that you pay enough taxes locally to simply keep the roads in check. Which is likely not the case if you live in suburbs. Yeah, at 1-2 million dollars the mile for a cheap streets, having to be paid every 25 years, there ain't a lot of US streets with a high enough density to not be money pits. But you hear americans whining as soon as you suggest that *maybe* american towns should be organised to cut costs, and lower taxes. Even if it means not everybody had a backyard.
Immigration does not take our jobs. Lmao immigrants pick vegetables from your grocery store for much less than what you would make doing it so farmers and corps can make a profit
They had me in the first half then they went full Fox News with it.
Except you never actually signed up for the subscription, nor agreed to it's terms, nor are you getting a pretty good service anyway, and getting out of the subscription is a massive hastle. Let's not compare voluntary actions like signing up for something, and being forced into one. This is a terrible comparison.
I don’t hate taxes. I hate how poorly money in the US is spent by those who get our tax dollars.
How is it spent and how would you like it spent?
Because, as a lot of responses in this thread prove, people don't appreciate that 90-something percent of the taxes they pay go to helping all the citizens of their country *including themselves*, but they absolutely *rage* at the thought of a few of their tax dollars going towards things they personally don't want. Not realizing that every single taxpayer in this country is supporting something they probably are personally opposed to, but that particular *something* is different from person-to-person. Taxes are the yearly maintenance fee for living in a society and not a lawless anarchy or a truly sociopathic libertarian "paradise".
K. Why the different rates for the same service.
I don't hate taxes - I just fucking hate what they do with them.................
I hate them because the subscription fee is too high. I pay more in taxes than regular people make gross
I am in similar boat Pay, just in federal income (not payroll or state etc) like 35k for family But my dad used to say "if you can complain about paying too much in tax you have nothing to complain about" And he is right I don't worry about anything financially so I can't complain
So you’re saying you can afford to pay taxes?
Isn’t it awesome that a Govt can confiscate your private property based ONLY on the fact that it’s there to take?
Because roughly 54% of the people are not only not paying their subscription fees, they are also collecting refunds paid by other people.
Maybe on income. I’m sure everybody is getting taxed somewhere.
I mean each time you buy something there is a tax
People who don’t pay taxes love them.
Yes, but what if you decide against continuing the subscription after your free childhood trial ends?
Then you just have to find somewhere else to live is all. Easy peasy! But warning, with few exceptions, they all have subscriptions too.
Aw.. my sweet summer child
Because nobody agrees to them, they’re forced upon you under threat of violence.
I hate taxes because I work as an EMT (for now) without adequate pay and even then I get a shit ton taken out of my taxes. Where do those dollars go? God fucking knows. So much gets wasted on useless bureaucrats and nonsense programs while the things that need funding get screwed. Also I don’t get to decide where my taxes go. So essentially they take my money under threat of violence and then waste it.
Someone has no idea what Logic is.
Subscribe implies consent You are forced to pay taxes
I take it you don't pay them?
https://preview.redd.it/zddk0tefq4uc1.jpeg?width=998&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cae9b6699a5c1a90c382b7302692b34ea890b450
Some MF will just never understand the part of leaving trees for the next generation to have shade still requires they be watered
Because they never learned to share.
It’s what they’re used for that people object to…
However, I was not given the chance to opt out.
Nobody loves taxes, that Im aware of. A majority understand the intent of taxes and get on board, however most of the argument over them is based on what everyone perceives that said taxes go to. People like roads, emergency services, police, fire, parks, transit, schools,defense so on and so forth. From what I hear day after day is hidden spending people have qualms with. Bloat in government, spending without tangible results or common sense ROI. Transparency would help with some of this Im sure.
It is transparent. Budgets are public records as well as the audits.
Some people need to travel more. We love our maintained roads. Utilities that get repaired promptly when there are outages. Good Schools and universities. Good Hospitals. Businesses not getting threatened by a cartels. Security from foreign countries. Security to walk at night. Career opportunities. The list goes on. It may not be true for everyone everywhere but it is a privilege to live on a first word county. Ask anyone who doesn’t.
I don't hate taxes, I hate misuse of them. Feeding the homeless, I'm fine with. Homeless trading SNAP/EBT for cash Not cool with.
They should offer an opt-out service whereby your rubbish isn't taken away, you're not allowed to use public roads, the police and fire department won't help you, no public heathcare, no child benefit (or any benefits), no state pension, you're forcibly conscripted into the army when needed, no access to public parks or spaces... I'm sure you get the point. Pay your taxes.
“Oh, I get it. It’s very clever. How’s that working out for you?”
Taxes might be a subscription, but the rate increase is outstripping inflation and the customer service bites!
People hate taxes when they feel the government is taking more from them than they're getting back. Most people aren't totally against social security, Medicare, interstate highways, the military, and so on... but that doesn't negate people feeling bad every time they look at their paycheck and see how much has been deducted YTD, or when they see the government spending billions on policy they voted against. If tax rates were lower or if the positive impacts from taxation were more obvious in everyday life, not as many people would be against the current tax system.
Because they're stupid and selfish.
What if you're a child worker? Is that like a free DLC?
Its more like a franchise fee. Had i know they'd steal this much, i wouldn't have bought it.
To use this analogy: I am paying for a subscription but even though I pay i am not allowed some of the features. Others who pay less than me are allowed these features. I pay more than others to do the same features.
Analogies by their nature are imperfect…they break down. Taxes aren’t exactly like a subscription (though there may be superficial similarities) obviously. Unfortunately, the problem I find with many people is that their level of understanding can’t go beyond analogies.
Older generations aren't used to every goddamn thing being available by yearly subscription. Taxes arent like a yearly subscription, subscriptions are like taxes.
Imagine if you had subscription choice. Sign me up for the German plan
Because it’s not used for the people of the country.
Because idiots are spending it very irresponsibly
I don't hate all taxes, I just hate the 85% of them that I could spend better myself.
I don't hate paying taxes per se, but I do hate how wasteful government handles tax money
Because they are misallocated and largely serve to enrich the wealthy and improvrish me.
Taxing income is unfair and inefficient. Is your question "why do people hate unfair and inefficient things?"
It's more everyone hating taxes while also declaring the never ending list of services the government should cover.
Umm no
Taxes benefit the working class, but the working class gets suckered into cutting them for the wealthy as they get poorer and poorer.
People hate taxes because the taxes collected are used improperly. We don’t need to spend a trillion a year on war and we don’t need to pay the pompous assholes in congress and the senate to do nothing for years while holding back wages brace they think we make too much….corporations paying politicians for kickbacks and tax cuts putting the strain on the lower and middle class while the rich get richer. I say tax the fuck outa the rich or we eat em. I’m sick and tired of getting 20 cent raises while inflation hits us like bricks and they think they are doing us a favor. Or here’s a pizza party because you’ve done such a good job. Fuck that. Pay people a real wage or suffer. It’s we the people not the government over the masses. We have to hold the government accountable for their actions and demand they start lowering the deficit or we are all fucked. Tax the hell outta the rich. Who needs over a million a year? Greasy greedy assholes that’s who. Same said for anyone making over a 100k a year in my book. Fuck yall rich pricks.
This is a problem. Federal taxes don't include the payroll tax that covers Social Security and Medicare. But it's the top 50% of earners who contribute almost all of the nation's federal taxes — nearly **98%**. The bottom 50%, who individually make below $46,637 annually, account for about 2.3% of the country's tax receipts
It would be one thing if tax revenue was spent productively. But we are nearing the point where total interest on the national debt catches up with annual tax revenue. So to have the government get a slice of every dollar each time it changes hands while we have crumbling infrastructure, a failing public education system, foreign aid obligations not in the best interest of our citizens, etc. and no plan to deal with the debt, yes, some folks get rubbed the wrong way.
I paid $70k in taxes last year. Guess what my student loans are?
When you're a US citizen living abroad, taxes are a yearly subscription to the country you don't live in.
This is a weak argument to shut down perfectly justified concerns about the amount of taxes collected and what the money gets spent (or stolen) on
I hate taxes because the tax code is deliberately complicated made more and more complex every year in order to force more and more people to use the services of the tax preparation industry. The money we paid to this tax preparation industry gets funneled back to the politicians in the form of donations.. so it's a vicious cycle and the tax code is getting more and more complicated every year and tax returns are getting more and more complicated every year. No other nation in the world has this torture extortion tax return system
I am guessing the OP doesn’t make that much money… once you do make more… you begin to hate taxes more and more.
The Forbes 400 paid 8.2 percent over recent years. The top marginal tax rate was 70 percent when Reagan took office and 28 percent when he left. The rich have been swimming in wealth ever since and deregulation has made it even worse.
Dumb take stupid meme
Illegals collect tax money they haven't paid into
Layton x ace meme wild time
I don't hate taxes. But public funding always nets diminishing returns for increased corruption and there is definitely a point at which you are actually making things worse by throwing more money at your problems. People treat public services like a linear equation of funds input to quality output. And if you say that you are sick of your money being taken to further entrench an increasingly corrupt bureaucracy, then you get legions of mouthbreathers screaming at you about "people over profits" and "just admit you hate poor people". It's beyond obnoxious and actively detrimental.
I don’t like the way my money gets spent being decided by majority opinion. You wouldn’t either by any other name.
People hate paying for a government to fail at fixing problems. If we prioritized citizens and cleaned up issues you wouldn’t hear the same complaints.
I am tired of trying to figure out if I'm entitled to certain tax breaks or credits and having to spend hours finding receipts and crap. The IRS knows how much I owe or how much they owe me send me the check or send me the bill and fuck off.
Because we can’t switch subscriptions. Or cancel it if it becomes to over burdensome.
I don’t hate taxes per se. I just hate that we don’t all pay the same tax rate. If only somebody would come up with a better plan. Call it something like 999 or something catchy like that.
Taxes are like that service that offers a free trial for a month but you have to pay for the other 11 months up front to get it.
Always, before civilization, before government, there was a strongest protection racket in town, and if you wished to keep your arms unbroken etc, you paid it your fare. Complaining about taxes is like complaining about rain.
People hate taxes for a number of reasons. Here are mine: 1) I don’t “pay” federal taxes. They are stolen from me. In any other venue, the way our federal taxes are collected would be considered theft. 2) There aren’t many people who on-net pay federal taxes, certainly not a significant amount, yet many of those people will tell me that I don’t pay enough. Taxes are used as another wedge issue to keep people divided. To go along with this is the fact that the people who pay the most in taxes to the government receive the least in return for their taxes; while the people who pay very little (or nothing at all) receive the goodies. 3) Many people assume that the government should take in at least a certain percentage of GDP. Nobody explains why that is the case. Uncle Sam is not a good steward of our money, why should we accept that the government should collect a certain percentage of the productive sector’s earnings when they completely mismanage what they receive currently? I could go on, but I’m sure you get the point…
The IRS has all the information. Why do we do a return? - so the IRS can prove us wrong?
Cause I have to pay to get my taxes done. I have to figure out what taxes I owe and if I mess it up then I get penalized plus interest. The IRS is the fucking mafia. They could make me a fan by doing a few things. Stop making me guess and just make a simplified tax code where I don’t have to “file”. Make it fair and stop letting business cheat the system while targeting middle class and poor. And finally, actually use the tax money to improve the lives of your citizens. Edit: and of course i live in USA.
I don't think I've ever seen a meme which demonstrated such a high level of ignorance of political theory.
Lmao. This is not a serious post.
If I knew exactly how it was spent, then it might make me feel better. I guess it's kinda like alimony in that way.
Uh because it's theft
I am fine with paying my state and local taxes. That’s actually not much money and it is used well. The federal taxes on the other hand are basically like dumping a huge chunk of money into a dumpster fire and burning it. It is easily 8x my state taxes and I get 1/100th the value from it.
I don't think I'm getting my money's worth. I'm gonna need to talk to the manager.
Congrats on your first analogy
I know taxes are necessary. I just hate that I don't know what they are going to; and that they dont go to things I dont care about
I’m not anti-tax (although I may sound so at Thanksgiving with a couple of drinks in me, across the table from my Bernie-Sis SIL)—the truth is I’m anti-waste. And the various governments that take 35-ish percent of my annual earnings, plus sales and gas taxes besides, are clearly wasting tremendous amounts of money that I work for free to send them through the first week of May or so. Life’s good in the US, and even all that wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t pull up the news to find another clip of a civil servant calling me privileged, or a racist, or reminding me how bad slavery was. They have no problem with slavery once they get that whip in their own hands. I trim my family’s waste to keep us financially solvent, and it’s hard. It takes restraint and impulse denial. Why can’t they publicly demonstrate a modicum of stewardship over our earnings that they collect?
People hate taxes cause they don't really benefit from their taxes in a way they can see. People in countries like Japan, where I currently am, have a more favorable view of taxes but this makes sense they are surrounded by things that are paid for by their taxes, like it's very obvious and feels well funded. Americans specifically have the benefit of the strongest currency on earth one of the most diverse economies on earth and access to investment opportunities that are the best in the world. All because we kill people around the world with our giant global police force and maintain a massive monopoly on global influence. That's not as visible to a person walking down the street as many might think.
Can’t cancel can you?
Because I’m paying 40% of my hard earned income, 90% of that money goes to a bunch of things I will never see the benefit from. I’ll never receive Medicaid, or social security. I morally object to funding the war machine. Meanwhile, the government Im paying mismanages so much money that they are digging a deeper and deeper hole of debt, along side printing trillions of dollars every year that devalues my savings and makes my life more difficult.
It’s a subscription that costs more than I’d like to pay and gives me a lot of stuff I’d like to pay to not have.
because theyre uneducated, dont think too hard on the matter, and take what theyre given for granted. Though, to be fair, the American tax system is whack and desperately requires revision in order to be sustainable. Turbo Tax capitalism is a disease.
Taxation is theft, don’t tread on me
I have no qualm with the base idea of taxes. What I have a qualm with is how said taxes are being spent by our government. All I'm saying is I'd like a little less of my taxes going to a bloated defense budget and towards something like providing fucking healthcare for the American people.
Yeah, except even if you don't live in the US but are still a citizen, Uncle Sam is still taking his cut no matter where you work in the world.
If they gave us the option to allocate how our tax dollars are spent on a yearly ballot and were then forced to abide by the will of the people, you’d see way less hate on taxes. Unfortunately, we’re stuck with a trillion bucks a year going to keep the military industrial complex running at full steam.
In America we do because they send so much of it to other countries and let ours rot out
I pay 500 dollars a week in taxes and I can barely afford my tiny 50 year old townhouse and very modest car. We have a strict budget, don't eat out, haven't been on vacation in a couple years. Then I turn on the TV and see we sent like a gazillion dollars to other countries to fund their wars. I dont hate taxes but I do think that most people's taxes could be cut In half if we would just control our fucking spending.
They're children who don't understand how anything works.
Taxes would be great if they were applied correctly and spent on the people. This is nonsense. Taxes are a tool and they are useful when used to support the needs of society.
Taxes (all, not just federal income) are your biggest expense and likely provide you with the least benefit to cost ratio. If the government was transparent and efficient, I wouldn’t care as much.
Because my taxes paid are subsidizing half the people who pay very little to no taxes.
Because people think hating taxes makes it look like they "know something about money" equal to the rich and powerful. Plus, the people who want to pretend to be oppressed by the cost of public services and LARP like the founding fathers.
Because people don't understand that without the military, we'd all be wearing swastikas... The rest of the taxes should go to the border and the courts. The rest can go away
Not really. And people have an issue with being overtaxed.
Because they are excessive on account of being pissed away on useless crap, lazy people, and killing foreigners.
I don’t have a problem with taxes. Taxes are how we get roads built, military paid and police and fire services for our communities. I have a problem with all the garbage we spend it on.
Its less that taxes are irritating it's the misuse of them and the complete lack of being in the conversation in regards to how it's spent. Instead my money I make from taking care of crippled and disabled animals is going to bombing children and women so :/
Quarterly
Id like to cancel several channels please. Id also like to change my password as there's too many freeloaders on my wifi.
Because greedy ppl want all the benefits but don't want to contribute
Dont hate taxes i hate government waste i think we need to cap entitlements and stop giving money to foreign countries. Los angeles has spent billions of tax payer funds on homeless and all its done is make it worse. They built 70 something dorm style apartments that cost 750k each. Thats more than median houses at the time. They put their buddies in executive positions in non profits and funnel billions to their salaries. Its mostly we hate the little return we get
Americans get nothing in return for taxes compared to other countries while we have politicians who are against taxing billionaires
If it's a subscription service, shouldn't it be a fixed price like $10k/year or whatever? Since when Netflix charges by percentage of your income (and worse, in a progressive manner)?
No, taxes are confiscated from you against your will, and if you don’t pay guys with guns will show up and take you to prison. Not like a subscription at all.
False equivalence - subscriptions are elective, the Income tax is not.
This is exactly why people who are successful are becoming expats