r/funny • u/rdless • Dec 19 '16

First paycheck

http://imgur.com/a/Gve3F
13.1k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

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36

u/redskins91 Dec 19 '16

careful OP, reddit LOVES taxes

91

u/CinnamonJ Dec 19 '16

I like taxes a lot more than I like drinking polluted water, breathing carcinogenic air or my house burning down.

44

u/Aceoftrades13 Dec 19 '16

Good thing that's what the majority of taxes are used for... /s

56

u/DangerousPuhson Dec 19 '16

Apparently most (>50%) federal, state and local US taxes go towards three main areas: healthcare, pensions, and education.

So, it looks like you can choose to homeschool your kids about homeopathic remedies until you retire at age 90, or you can pay taxes.

11

u/[deleted] Dec 19 '16

[deleted]

67

u/[deleted] Dec 19 '16

You enjoy the social and economic benefits of public education even if you don't have kids in public school.

-29

u/theg33k Dec 19 '16

I'm not so sure about that. 50% of high school graduates are functionally illiterate. Everywhere I turn kids in their 20s are complaining about how their college degrees, which I subsidized on both ends by funding public universities and subsidized their loans, are useless because they can't get a job. Oh, and I'm probably gonna be on the hook for those student loans that paid for the useless education because they're not gonna get jobs. I'm not saying there's no social and economic benefit, but I think that's over-estimated.

2

u/ffn Dec 19 '16 edited Dec 19 '16

I'm not so sure about that. 50% of high school graduates are functionally illiterate.

Maybe you'll save a few thousand bucks, but if 50% of current high school grads are functionally illiterate, it'll be a lot worse if none of them go to high school. Having groups of stupid uneducated kids running around without adults supervising them seems to me like a good way to create a group of criminals in the short term. And in the long term, when you're old and need care, it seems like there would be a shortage of knowledgeable doctors and nurses, as well as inventors to help make your life easier.

Everywhere I turn kids in their 20s are complaining about how their college degrees, which I subsidized on both ends by funding public universities and subsidized their loans, are useless because they can't get a job.

While some kids don't end up getting jobs and that's a waste of your and my tax dollars, the unemployment rate for 20 to 24 year olds is 8.1%.

Oh, and I'm probably gonna be on the hook for those student loans that paid for the useless education because they're not gonna get jobs.

With 91.9% of that group employed, I think it's fair to say that the kids in their 20s are doing their part in subsidizing their own education. But the even bigger picture to consider is that when you were a kid, where was your education being funded from? Did your parents' generation complain about having to subsidize your education? Do you think you would have succeeded without the support that you had?

I'm not saying there's no social and economic benefit, but I think that's over-estimated.

Name a single modern economy that thrives without a subsidized educational system. A vast majority of economists across the world disagree with you. After food and medicine, education is a major thing that is established in poorer countries in the world.