Either Way You Are Screwed; The Government Always Wins!

You know it's done by percentages, don't you?

Of course. The better you do, the harder the punishment.

Great answer as usual, Hank. You obviously read the meme and understood it (unlike the other person seemingly involved in the conversation).

Don't expect Anti to understand anything he doesn't want to understand. It's always great fun to "misunderstand" you so you have to come back and explain yourself, and goad you into a long, fruitless discussion.

Oh, how dare I expect you to actually explain your own statements.

I don't think you know what a percentage is, then. Some of them have a proportionally lower tax burden than I do, despite the fact that they're supposed to be wealthier than me. Some of them even get a net PAYOUT from the tax system; the government's rewarding them more than they're "punishing" them. And, to repeat, they're supposed to be able to afford taxes more than I can.

Your "taxes are a fine for doing well" narrative doesn't stand up for two seconds.

The tax code is written by politicians to induce behavior from the taxpayers. People who take advantage of tax code are merely following the law. The tax rates are structured so that taxpayers with higher taxable income pay a higher percentage of their taxable income as income tax. The top 1% of income earn 20% of the income yet pay about 40% of income taxes. The top 10% of income earners earn 48% of total income yet pay 71% of income taxes. The bottom 50% of income earners earn 12.75% of total income yet only pay 2.7% of taxes based on 2018 tax data.

No. That's not even remotely true.

The purpose of taxes is, pure and simple, to fund the running costs of society. I don't care if you're Sam Walton or Bob Cratchit: there's roads that have to be paved and potholes fixed, there has to be a 24-hour fire response service otherwise it's not just a random house that's burned down it's the entire city, those soldiers you're always so obsessed with need a salary, those police you're always so obsessed with need a salary. There's a long list of things that need running and they only make sense if we all pitch in from a percentage of our income. When your parents made you tidy your bedroom, it wasn't about your behaviour, it was about you doing your part to do the things that needed doing around the house.

What's my behaviour supposed to be if my taxes cover military defense? If I want to pay fewer taxes and I decide the military defense should be something I don't have to pay for, what's the behaviour the government is trying to incentivize me towards? Can you hear how nonsense that is? The goal is just to meet the fund raising. And I don't see why Jamie Dimon should get to make a lower effort proportional to his income than I do proportional to mine for the benefits of the Commons we both receive.

Taxation is based on the idea that the government provides you with certain "services", the nature and quality of which government decides - military protection, police protection, health services, postal service, roads, etc. And that you have to pay for these services, whether you want them or need them, at the price government decides, and at whatever quality government tells you is "sufficient.

It is also based on the idea that your income belongs to government, and that government decides how much of your salary you receive as an allowance.

What I just described is a protection racket.

Try voting your local Mafia capo out of office and let me know how that went for you.