Quote (EndlessSky @ 1 Feb 2021 20:59)
Income tax didn't exist until after the civil war, and it was probably a mistake.
I disagree and agree.
The problem, as I see it, is when you have property tax, income tax, sales tax, sin taxes, transactional (non sales) tax, fuel tax, power tax tax tax TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX!!!11ONEONEONE!!!!1111!
I find it deeply concerning when newspapers are talking about additional ways to tax people and it's considered normal. I get that I'm slightly older, at 38, than the average PaRDian. However, I remember just a short 15 years ago when speaking of additional ways of taxing people was considered promoting theft.
So, I'm good for income tax. OR sales tax. OR property tax. OR sin tax. I just don't think that if the net capital created by a nation is X Trillion, that 1/3d of X is being spent by government. The government doesn't produce anything, they don't generate capital, they don't improve life, they leech off it.
Government provides much needed service, yes. We need government. But we don't need them to "lead" us. We need them to "serve" us. And having them spending a third of our GDP (from local to federal) is absolutely frightening. Over $7 trillion annually spent by government with a mere 18-20T generated? That's scary.
Overwhelming force is created by overwhelming access to wealth. Nobody has the wealth of the government. No, fucking stop with Musk and Bezos and Buffet and shit. The truly terrifying people are those who're seeking further ways to extract the fruits of your labor.