what have ~~the Romans~~ Taxes ever done for us?
All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have ~~the Romans~~ taxes ever done for us?
this post was submitted on 01 Nov 2023
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I love how people just up and forget about all of the infrastructure that makes their lives possible every single time they ask this question.
People complaining about taxes have rarely spent time in a place where zero taxation is the actual reality.
Don't want to pay taxes?
Cool, move to North Sentinel island, there are zero taxes there.
Libertarians usually want all the benefits of a functioning society without the pesky inconvenience of having to pay for it.
People complaining about taxes have a right to do so. It’s perhaps the only reason we don’t have historically high taxes like we did around WWII. And if you’re European, your tax to GDP ratio is completely terrible and much higher than American rates. Then again Americans have to pay for their health insurance separately, so there’s that.
Brought peace?
Oh, peace? SHUT UP!
In case y'all missed the reference, it's Money Python Life of Brian.
All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, ...
Your government gives you wine?? 🍷🍷
Where do you live?
When you pay enough and have the right government, a society.
- free tuition
- free or at least affordable healthcare
- social security
- physical security
- transportation
Without it, our country (the Netherlands) would be a lot smaller, as most of it would be below sea level. It still is, but the dykes, which are build and maintained via taxes, keep the sea at bay. No roads to travel on, no military to defend the country, no healthcare that is affordable for all and no food on the table for the unemployed.
When your taxes are spent well, it's a great return on investment. (My income for one ;) ) However, when the government is mostly corporate owned, the return is a lot less.
The aqueduct?
Garbage answer:
Garbage collection and general management. It's nice that we don't dump our waste outside our homes anymore.
Sewers. Ever visited an outhouse in a place where it's 0 degrees out? yOw!
Or carried two pails of water 2 blocks, twice, to start heating it while you did it 3 more times for the rest of your bath? Lots of people still do that.
At 0 degrees no. Have at 35 degrees in AU.
If all we paid for were sewers, our taxes would be almost nothing per person. Plus I pay for sewers outside of taxes anyway. It’s built into the water bill.
Which country?
What your government spends tax money on varies wildly from one country to another.
The good ones pay for universal healthcare and higher education.
The bad ones pay for wars, stuff the pockets of billionaires and fund anti-progressive propaganda.
The worst thing we get in return for paying taxes is constant whining from right-wingers (i.e. libertarians).
A whole-ass functioning society
A slightly misplaced hyphen and this is a very different sentence.
Well if the taxes are misused, stolen, otherwise not finding their way to where they should be, the sentence remains true
"All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?"
politicians.
A squad of burly goons with a tank and helicopter dont break your body in half (by default)
Your public education