Comment on 'Go woke, go broke'
voracitude@lemmy.world 11 months agoYeah, I get wordy in the pursuit of accuracy. Also, it is a fairly complex and broad discussion we’re having, which doesn’t help. Also also, I’m not not American, but as with most things (foreshadowing!) it’s not that simple ;p
I think you should have some skin in the game to vote
What do you call living in the country and paying taxes? Being affected by policy and law is skin in the game.
I can agree there are other ways than a wealth tax, and definitely agree that a living wage is better. I don’t think flat taxes work unless income and costs are also flat, but things just aren’t that simple in reality. Reading your thoughts on eliminating the income tax, you’re basically agreeing with “No taxation without representation” but from the other direction than usual. “Yes, you shouldn’t be taxed, and also you get no representation”. I disagree, of course; you’re advocating for the creation of a silent underclass and I value equality far too much for that. It’s just not good enough in practise because people with power tend to develop a penchant for persecution, and nobody should be voiceless as long as that’s a fact.
I think you’re right, closing loopholes (on companies offshoring profits to tax havens, as much or more than on very high earning individuals) would fix a lot of the cash flow issues the country faces, and a true living wage would obviate the need for a lot of social safety nets. Though I don’t think they should be removed entirely; the pandemic proved we need reserves. But it won’t cost near as much with fewer people needing them thanks to a living wage.
Essentially we can’t take care of each other when we can barely afford to take care of ourselves, and having the government do it leads to things like Deep Space 9’s Bell Riots. I’ve often said I see San Francisco going exactly that way if they can’t figure out homelessness (LA is gonna be more like “Escape From LA”, probably).
Wanna hear something funny? I had a whole section comparing the demographics of California and Texas that I deleted before posting, saying exactly what you did (but with citations), because it was already a novella.
I think you’ll like this: I’ve long been a proponent of creating a business arm of the government to monetise public research and infrastructure, fund public programmes, and/or rebate a portion to the American taxpayer every year. I think Australia had exactly the right idea with the CSIRO, and Norway with their “public pension” fund investing their oil profits. Alongside closing tax loopholes, it very nicely resolves a lot of cash flow questions like the ones you’re raising, for funding a lot of the social policy I propose.
I am fine with crushing Hamas, they’ve committed atrocities and war crimes too; they have outright said they’ll never stop so they must be stopped. The problem is that Palestinians are not Hamas, and the Israeli government doesn’t give a shit. They want the land and they will commit genocide to get it, Netanyahu said as much, and Biden is spending my tax dollars to help fund it. Neither government is right, and the people are suffering, and it’s terrible. I agree the region needs stability, stability means less suffering, but it’s too bloody messy. I firmly believe we should stay the fuck out of the Middle East.
wintermute_oregon@lemm.ee 11 months ago
I didn’t mean that as a slight but some things are cultural and unless you are from the culture, it’s hard to understand the nuance. Anti-taxation is a very American topic. Now I do support taxation but it has become excessive for many people. Our tax rate is quickly surpassing our peers, but we are not getting what our peers get for their tax dollars. The money is just being pissed away and that is not a good use of anyone’s money.
A majority are not paying taxes.
Let’s look at a common lilberal myth that the rich do not pay their fair share.
taxfoundation.org/…/federal-income-tax-data-2021/
As you will see, we have a progressive tax system where the rich are paying more than their fair share. That goes back to the spending problem I mentioned. As a conservative, I want to simplify the system and reduce the spending. I only want the government involved when it makes sense. Our government is highly inefficient and the only thing it is very good at is kicking ass. If you need a country blown up, America is number #1 at doing it.
Just living here doesn’t make you good with logic or math. Over 50% of Americans don’t pay taxes. They have no skin in the game. They just want more free money. It isn’t free. That money comes from someone else.
cnbc.com/…/57percent-of-us-households-paid-no-fed….
Flat tax is an income tax. In most proposals, deductions are eliminated, and you just pay a percentage of your income. It screws the rich as they use many deductions and the poor do not use any deductions. So I am not advocating the elimination of the tax, we need to run a country, but simplifying the system.
If we had a true living wage, we could simplify the system. Currently, only TANF is considered welfare. The other 12-13 programs are colloquially known as welfare but are not. We could eliminate all the other programs and just use TANF for emergencies but increase the payout to TANF to be life-changing.
I have always thought we need a fund to help people start a business. Liberals think if you open a business there is no risk and money just flows in. It isn’t that simple. I would like to make it easier and less risky for low income people to start a company.
Many years ago there was a band called Stormtroopers of Death with a song called Fuck the Middle east. The song came out in 1985. It is now 2024 and the song still rings true.