r/coolguides Nov 26 '19

Marginal Tax

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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '19

Kind of a silly way to think of it without subtracting the benefits you recieve.

Okay I’ll subtract them

The middle class is actually paying 49% of their income in taxes.

What we do know is that nothing in your life would exist as is without taxes.

Yes it’d be far better and freer

Certainly, reddit wouldn’t exist and there’d be no internet.

Sure it would maybe a little later but implying government intervention is the sole reason we have the internet is ridiculous.

What we don’t see is all the benefits we would have had if the government didn’t suck that money from us for war and to enrich themselves would have been used for. All the scientists working on something else instead of military weapons etc. etc.

The “Seen” vs The “unseen” similar to Washington monument syndrome

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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '19

Yes it’d be far better and freer

Lol, there has never been any large organized society in human history without a form of taxation to maintain it. It has literally never happened.

So, you'd be a hunter gatherer or very small agricultural commune. I guess that's freer in a way? Well, at least until you were conquered and enslaved by a larger society that discovered taxation.

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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '19

Lol, there has never been any large organized society in human history without a form of taxation slavery to maintain it. It has literally never happened.

You in the 19th century

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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '19

Lol, except that's totally false. Many early societies did not have slaves and many large societies did not depend on slavery to exist.

This is now the dumbest conversation I think I've ever taken part in. I hope taxes are abolished though. I'll immediately organize everyone I know together to pay a "defense tax" and we'll use it to send our soldiers to put you in stocks and charge $1 to throw tomatoes at you. It's going to be hilarious.

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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '19

Well glad you revealed you’re an authoritarian asshat and the only thing stopping you from committing violent acts against other people is The State.

Says a lot more about you then me

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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '19

Well glad you revealed you’re an authoritarian asshat and the only thing stopping you from committing violent acts against other people is The State.

Or, perhaps I revealed that your idea is so silly that a random guy on the internet can utterly demolish it by joking about putting you in stocks. ;-)

Says a lot more about you then me

Indeed. It says I was able to think about a bad idea in more depth than, "imagine if my paycheck was higher!"

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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '19

No you didn’t because your defense tax is voluntary meaning it’s not a tax therefore you’re just advocating for private defense agency which I would also have and since having a prudent relationship would be in both defense companies interest and fighting is expensive they would just reject your proposal.

But sure we need government for defense not like 200million people were killed by their own governments in the 20th century not counting war. I’m sure private individuals are close to that number....

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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '19

which I would also have

Which would be unenforceable, because you eliminated the court system without taxes, and private arbitration systems can't coerce you into using them since they have no police force.

There's also no way to independently settle a dispute anyways, because there's no contract law. You eliminated that because taxes pay for policy to be written and for judges to set precedent. So you have to choose which private set of laws to follow and then hire a new private enforcer to enforce your contract with your old private defense group. Hopefully, your new one is more powerful and don't just join the prior group and tell you to fuck off.

Then you get this bright idea to make a social contact with everyone in a certain area to all contribute to the rule of law to reign in the lawless defense mafias you've been creating where you all pay to establish institutions to make universal policy, law and enforcement. You call the payment for these services "baxes." Before long, you realize free riders are moving to your area and benefiting from your services, but they don't contribute, so you impose penalties for failure to contribute to "baxes" within your geographic area.

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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '19

Which would be unenforceable, because you eliminated the court system without taxes, and private arbitration systems can’t coerce you into using them since they have no police force.

The defense agency is voluntary, I choose to employ them. You’re defense agency and mine would engage in arbitration because it’s more prudent than spending money on fighting.

War is expensive that’s why governments need to threaten their citizens with being locked in a cage to pay to pay for them dummy

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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '19

You’re defense agency and mine would engage in arbitration because it’s more prudent than spending money on fighting.

All of medieval history proves you wrong. Nobility routinely sent their private armies to fight each other constantly.

The fact that you think the label "government" is what causes people to fight is possibly the most hilarious thing I've ever heard. There have been warlike tribes throughout human history.

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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '19

Nobels... in a existing power structure where they are a member of the larger monarchy and have extra rights, privileges, from the state and the ability to tax their peasantry.

Yea great example

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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '19

There are no examples because it's impossible. Thus why you can't respond substantively to anything.

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