Why are we still paying taxes anyways? - Do you know where your tax dollars go to?

[Ser Prize]

God knows anymore

 

[ENDTOPII]

If you I don't pay taxes, the government has not issues with killing you.
Paying taxes will result in you being behind bars, but if I refuse going to jail for me just not paying an extortion subscription fee "taxes" on my income they will point a firearm at me for not complying. if you ever get yourself into a scenario of them trying to arrest you, just know that they have people (law enforcement) under clear instructions to point a firearm at you for saying "no I won't pay my taxes and I won't be arrested for it". The consequences of not paying taxes and the consequences of them trying to enforce it will kill you.

Q: Why are we still paying taxes anyways?
A: Because they will use lethal force if we refuse.

 

[seri0us]

You might not see it but remember that you are also paying one of the world's strongest militaries to stop dickheads from invading your country and to be so strong they act as a deterrent to anyone who would be foolish as to try.

Have you seen the Southern border

 

[Audit]

I'll just drop the handy whitehouse.gov table of where your tax money goes.

TLDR: It's all welfare now. The military, roads, education, science, etc. part of the federal government is all being sacrificed to pay for old fucks and other useless people. Much of this is straight up payroll taxes (social security, medicaid, medicare) that the wealthy exempt themselves from. Out of a projected $5.9 trillion in federal spending for 2024, more than 60% of it is straight, uncut pure welfare. Non-welfare, non-interest spending is a paltry <30% of the federal budget. The nation is literally eating itself to death on welfare.

 

[LaxerBRO]

But why should we hand our money over to people who poorly spend them and have extreme contempt for us.

I like my dogs.

 

[Mitt Doggy Dogg]

So our fearless leaders can afford hookers and drugs of course

 

[Irregardless]

Social security is probably one of, if not the biggest tax scam currently. There's arguments and cope that can be used for state and federal taxes with the idea being, at least some of it is going into shit the public uses such as roads, public infrastructure, public services, etc. Whether you are ok with that being the case or have opinions on how the money is being wasted is one thing, but there is at least some reasoning.

Social security on the other hand, as it stands is entirely based on extracting money from the population that controls the least amount of wealth and moving it to the population that controls the most amount of wealth, and on top of that they've been saying for ages now that it's going to run out faaaar before most people paying into it now would ever be able to use it, basically making it something akin to a reverse generalized wealth tax that the majority of us will likely never even see the benefits of. It doesn't matter if you're a family of 5 trying to live off of 75k/yr, the government is going to take $4500 away from you every year to pay for boomers who lived through the most economically prosperous times in the countries history, regardless of if they wasted that time or not. I love my grand parents as much as the next guy, but the fact that I'm paying 5 figures a year just for the majority of them to sit on their ass and bitch about the country they fucked up is an absolute scam.

 

[Zbk3VmLfujjzjxBd43tL]

Social security is probably one of, if not the biggest tax scam currently. There's arguments and cope that can be used for state and federal taxes with the idea being, at least some of it is going into shit the public uses such as roads, public infrastructure, public services, etc. Whether you are ok with that being the case or have opinions on how the money is being wasted is one thing, but there is at least some reasoning.

Social security on the other hand, as it stands is entirely based on extracting money from the population that controls the least amount of wealth and moving it to the population that controls the most amount of wealth, and on top of that they've been saying for ages now that it's going to run out faaaar before most people paying into it now would ever be able to use it, basically making it something akin to a reverse generalized wealth tax that the majority of us will likely never even see the benefits of. It doesn't matter if you're a family of 5 trying to live off of 75k/yr, the government is going to take $4500 away from you every year to pay for boomers who lived through the most economically prosperous times in the countries history, regardless of if they wasted that time or not. I love my grand parents as much as the next guy, but the fact that I'm paying 5 figures a year just for the majority of them to sit on their ass and bitch about the country they fucked up is an absolute scam.

Social security is the product of an earlier age when people were lucky to live to retirement age and rarely made it much past 70. It's also the product of a much poorer time when the average old person was often in very poor health from a lifetime of hard factory/agricultural work, had no pensions or investments because the Guilded Age was kind of shit, and usually had to live with a relative. It was made so they wouldn't be a burden on their family and could die off in peace.

This is obviously not the case where the current generation of old people are the beneficiaries of the single most prosperous time in history and beside the most unlucky and dirt poor have pensions, a fuckton of investments, and their own homes. It's a case of why UBI is the dumbest idea ever invented, since our taxes go to adding an extra pittance of income to the pockets of Johnny Boomer who bought his California house in 1965 with his first job and nowadays owns three McMansions, takes cruises ever year, and regularly gets phone scammed. Old people should use the same welfare and disability payments everyone else gets. When Johnny Boomer finally croaks in the 2030s in his 90s, he'll have hoovered up tens of thousands of dollars worth of tax money.

 

[Otterly]

Taxes are one's silent admission of the system they're paying into, and I don't mean just earning the "right" to exist for yet another day/month/year in order to perpetuate the cycle. No, admission also means, however indirectly, giving a stamp of approval for actions taken by that system. Many are not fond of facing that fact, but it doesn't change the unfortunate truth to it.

The system is developed to the level we cannot escape it anymore, every day we are forced to carry the cross for participating in the sins of others, that we never wanted to be committed.

I’ve wondered about this too. My money that I earn from hard work goes to things I detest. I cannot opt out without lethal consequences or being sent to jail which would damage the people I love. What is the course of action I should take? Is it damning me? It’s like some kind of catching net for souls.
But then I’m complicit in the action. I would t have any issue paying taxes if I knew it was going to fixing the roads, defence, fire, elderly care, health, and even things like flowers in the village hanging baskets and displays. Those benefit us all even if they don’t benefit me directly or I don’t need them.
Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s? I don’t know

 

[JackoVerde]

I’ve wondered about this too. My money that I earn from hard work goes to things I detest. I cannot opt out without lethal consequences or being sent to jail which would damage the people I love. What is the course of action I should take? Is it damning me? It’s like some kind of catching net for souls.
But then I’m complicit in the action. I would t have any issue paying taxes if I knew it was going to fixing the roads, defence, fire, elderly care, health, and even things like flowers in the village hanging baskets and displays. Those benefit us all even if they don’t benefit me directly or I don’t need them.
Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s? I don’t know

I wonder if we could create a tax system that funds actually useful shit first
Now what is on the list of useful shit
roads
schools, though what they teach is a different matter entirely.
healthcare
border
Certain services like utilities.
than anything else would be put to a vote
at the bottom of the list would be DEI stuff, money to Israel or African shitholes
well it would all be to a vote technically, but I imagine anything after Utilities and such would get less and less votes.

 

[Chaos Theorist]

NEETChads just stay winning

 

[Starved Artist]

Once again, the problem is corporations.
It's gotten to the point that companies actively keep their employees on welfare wages so they can get the rebate for hiring someone on welfare, while the employee is paying taxes. It's just a slot machine you're paying into but not getting any of the winnings from at this point.

I'll just drop the handy whitehouse.gov table of where your tax money goes.

TLDR: It's all welfare now. The military, roads, education, science, etc. part of the federal government is all being sacrificed to pay for old fucks and other useless people. Much of this is straight up payroll taxes (social security, medicaid, medicare) that the wealthy exempt themselves from. Out of a projected $5.9 trillion in federal spending for 2024, more than 60% of it is straight, uncut pure welfare. Non-welfare, non-interest spending is a paltry <30% of the federal budget. The nation is literally eating itself to death on welfare.

The entire document is amusing as fuck.

• The welfare stuff is spread out over a longer period of time. 6 Billion spread out over 10 years is not equal to 1.5 billion, every 4 months to Israel.
• That's not even getting into the intended " pledge" of 6 Billion towards the HIV fund, which may or may not ever get there.
• Icing on the cake. The Trillions? Most of it is for Veterans Only. Which... We already know doesn't go where it needs to go.

Anyway, the scariest thing? How little our government is actually spending on Water safety and education. Holy fuck. I mean, it's no surprise since our water is mostly radioactive in a lot of states. It also creates the perfect smoke screen.
Are kids getting dumber because the water is poison or are kids dumber because education was slashed to shit?

Speaking of this shithow.

Strengthens Domestic Manufacturing. Investing in Growth Accelerators, Regional
Innovation Clusters, as well as the Federal and State Technology Partnership Program is key
to ensuring entrepreneurs have access to the tools, networks, and services they need to bring
cutting-edge innovation to the market. The Budget provides $30 million, an $18 million
increase over the 2021 enacted level, to build and strengthen these innovation ecosystems.
The Budget also provides $4 million for the creation of a Manufacturing Hub to expand SBA’s
capacity to support domestic manufacturing by helping small businesses connect with ser-
vice providers to commercialize innovation, automate processes, enter new markets, expand
capacity, and strengthen their resiliency.


30 fucking million for Domestic Manufacturing? What corporation has their deathgrip on the balls of our people today? 30 Fucking million? That's it?!

The Small Business Administration (SBA) helps to ensure that small businesses and
entrepreneurs have access to the information and resources they need to start, grow, or recover
their business. The President’s 2023 Budget for SBA makes historic investments in counseling
and training programs, expanding access to capital, supporting domestic manufacturing and
innovation, and promoting access to Government contracting opportunities.
The Budget requests $914 million in discretionary funding for SBA, a $159 million or 21-percent
increase from the 2021 enacted level.

If you ever wondered if there was a caste system in America, the 2023 fiscal budget pretty much confirms it.

 

[General Disarray]

I'm not too fond of double and triple taxation; as in you pay the Feds out of your check, then your net pay gets spent and you get taxed AGAIN at the county/city level. I also don't understand paying property taxes in perpetuity - you're paying all of the above taxes and your water/sewer bill and your electric/gas bill so why the fuck are you still taxing property every year? For a house that's just existing? Which of course means you'll never be secure in your home if you lose your job because you will always have that tax burden and sucks for you we will take your house back!

Plus it funds schools. Abolish it NOW.

 

[Zbk3VmLfujjzjxBd43tL]

I'm not too fond of double and triple taxation; as in you pay the Feds out of your check, then your net pay gets spent and you get taxed AGAIN at the county/city level. I also don't understand paying property taxes in perpetuity - you're paying all of the above taxes and your water/sewer bill and your electric/gas bill so why the fuck are you still taxing property every year? For a house that's just existing? Which of course means you'll never be secure in your home if you lose your job because you will always have that tax burden and sucks for you we will take your house back!

Plus it funds schools. Abolish it NOW.

Property taxes are also for funding services like local roads, replacing street lights, and police and fire although the part about school funding sucks if you don't have kids in public school/no voucher program to use for private schools. It's arguably one of the more fair taxes in theory since if you don't own property, you might technically pay no property tax, and it avoids the nickle and diming of income taxes or odious double taxation of the estate tax. And local politicians are a lot easier to reach than state or federal politicians.

IIRC it goes back to the feudal notion that all land is property of the king and you the landowner simply hold it as an inheritable fief which means you have certain duties to him. Back then it meant you send him a few chickens or whatever every year, now it means you send the government a portion of the land's value.

 

[General Disarray]

IIRC it goes back to the feudal notion that all land is property of the king and you the landowner simply hold it as an inheritable fief which means you have certain duties to him. Back then it meant you send him a few chickens or whatever every year, now it means you send the government a portion of the land's value.

Then we still are under a feudal system in all but name and you can never actually own property. If it can be taken from you for non-payment you are leasing, period.

 

[Otterly]

I wonder if we could create a tax system that funds actually useful shit first

I’d support this. Critical stuff first. Everything else triaged. Parties can explicitly put what they would prioritise on election manifestos.

 

[SwanSwanson]

"Do you know where your tax dollars go to?"

Yes, Israel.

 

[melty]

I think most people misunderstand taxation. At least in the US, taxes are the governments way of incentivizing or punishing certain behaviors. If you're paying a lot in taxes, it's because you're doing something wrong, like being a boring wagey and not starting a business or investing in real estate, which is what the government wants you to do and that's why they offer so many tax incentives to do so.
Taxes are also not the main source of payment for various projects. Those are paid for by printing money. Taxes are more like a penalty to remove excess money from the economy.

Note that I'm not trying to argue for the long term viability of this system, this is just what it is. When people complain about their tax dollars going to something they don't like or how their kids will have to pay for the governments debt or something, it's all bullshit and not how taxes and government debt actually works. When people complain about paying a lot of taxes it's because they are not following government incentives. Conversely, rich people who don't pay taxes are doing it right because they are participating in the activities the government wants them to - building huge businesses, employing people, buying real estate.

 

[Baguette Child]

 

[JackoVerde]

I’d support this. Critical stuff first. Everything else triaged. Parties can explicitly put what they would prioritise on election manifestos.

It would also make parties more transparent and accountable to the people.
I bet a lot of people don’t even know their taxes are going to retarded shit that is of no real benefit to the populace, or in even worse cases, their taxes are funding things that are a direct detriment to the populace.

With this system, the chances of funding retarded shit goes down. You’d also have to justify removing taxes from other more important things to pay for those less important retarded things.