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[Kyzer]

But I'm fucking rich so I don't need any of that shit. I'm not gonna pay with ma hard-earned tax dollars to fund designer purse-wearing, foodstamps for twelve kids-abusing, iPhone-buying, steak and lobster-eating, lazy Mexicans. What we need is a huge fucking wall, double the size of our military, and less taxes in order to save money.

If this was a different website it wouldnt be surprising for it to be 100% dead serious

 

[Fuchsdh]

While most of the article is bleak, it does point out some positives:

But there are surprises on this new road, too. When the Curry County parks department and juvenile department were merged a few years ago, for example, it did not seem like a natural fit, said Jonathan J. Trost, who runs both agencies. But then, for budgetary reasons, he started deploying teenage offenders to clean the parks as part of their community service. Recidivism rates went down, and Curry now has one of the state’s lowest percentages of juveniles committing a second offense. It probably wouldn’t have happened, Mr. Trost said, without forced improvisation.

Overall, I definitely think these people are just impoverishing themselves and their descendants over peanuts, but hopefully the good people in government keep fighting and taking care of these dumbasses. Because that's what they're supposed to do.

 

[KernelPanic]

It would also help even more if our paychecks actually showed what the hell the taxes went towards. I think I have just one line that says "Federal" on it with no breakdown. Michael Moore's latest doc showed EU countries where they broke it down so you could see that you were paying for police, fire, health care, social security, public schools, etc.

That's not so much of a problem with taxes as government transparency(or lack thereof).

 

[Hilbert]

Ah, rural Oregon. My old home.

And this is old news, back in my county they shut down the library 15 years ago.

 

[Izayoi]

"Uneducated backwater willingly drives itself further into destitution and ignorance."

Hmm, let's see... Oh, yep - 57.19% for Trump. Gee whiz!

 

[Lkr]

While most of the article is bleak, it does point out some positives:



Overall, I definitely think these people are just impoverishing themselves and their descendants over peanuts, but hopefully the good people in government keep fighting and taking care of these dumbasses. Because that's what they're supposed to do.

Some bloated unnecessary bureaucrat working for himself and not for the good of the people came up with the idea. And government never has good ideas so his idea is automatically bad even if facts show it worked. We need to get free loaders like that guy off of the government payroll and working as a cashier at Walmart because that's the American dream!

 

[Eusis]

While most of the article is bleak, it does point out some positives:



Overall, I definitely think these people are just impoverishing themselves and their descendants over peanuts, but hopefully the good people in government keep fighting and taking care of these dumbasses. Because that's what they're supposed to do.

It also sounds more like what should be happening, you look to find how to cut costs down while still getting results or at least satisfactory results. That's more like realizing you could cut down on buying small trash bags by using grocery bags (when they aren't 10 cents) to line trash cans, while a lot of these people just want to stop buying trash bags period because they don't like the cost.

 

[JaggedSac]

Reminds me of an old post from Something Awful

This is great.

 

[charsace]

I wish places like these didn't get access to the taxes I pay.

 

[Inquisitive_Ghost]

Every time I encounter someone complaining about income taxes (Canada here), I point out that countries with higher income tax rates roughly correlate to higher quality of life. It usually works.

 

[sturgboski]

lol I remember reading a variation of this a while back. There's also a funny YouTube with an old dude making a similar argument about how much better we would be in a country without taxes because then it wouldn't be wasted on useless shit like roads.

Some guy in the article said some stupid shit about how we are better off with less people on government payroll. I never understood this shortsighted argument. You want more people impoverished?

Maybe these people will learn their lesson when the county is entirely out of money and everyone is laughing at them when a wildfire spreads and the unnecessary, bloated, government run fire department isn't there to protect their property or families.

Not to go too much into it, but there is a problem with staffing in the government. Certain areas, if you cant do your job, they hire someone else to assist/do it and you are still on pay roll, thus paying two salaries to accomplish the same job. It is very hard to lose a job in such organizations, like I remember interviewing to be a bank examiner and was told by a friend of mine who worked there that basically the only firing that has happening in recent memory of the folks working there (most were celebrating 30+ years) was of a guy who printed gay porn at the office (why one would use company property to not only look at porn but print it up AT work is beyond me). However, my friend was doing the computer related work for one of the older folk who didnt know how to use a computer.

Am I saying that government needs to be managed like a business? No. However, there are things that could be done to reduce waste/cost such as trimming some of the redundant staff. However cutting all taxes and hoping for the best is ridiculous. Trickle down has never worked, but Republicans keep selling it and morons keep buying it.

 

[Izayoi]

Every time I encounter someone complaining about income taxes (Canada here), I point out that countries with higher income tax rates roughly correlate to higher quality of life. It usually works.

Percentage-based, tiered income taxes are the most progressive and equitable tax system in the world currently.

It's sad that where I live, Washington state, has one of the most regressive tax systems in the US despite how liberal we're known to be.

Thanks a lot, Tim Eyman, you fucking hack.

 

[GameAddict411]

Oregon is a very polarized state despite how it appears to be so blue. Rural Oregon is not much different than deep red south of the United States. Huge crosses, and all white towns everywhere. You just have Portland metro area, Salem, Medford, and Eugene having the bulk of Oregon's population that always tip the balance towards the left.

 

[soco]

In a similar vein is the Louisiana public defender crisis (daily beast, npr). People basically just sit in jail as continuances are issued.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

I blame the Founding Fathers for this

It is a cultural culmination since the American ruling Elite driven by greed succeeded in manipulating the peasant class that "taxes are bad"

lmao this is not right.

George Washington sent the military to supress an anti-tax revolt.

 

[Mivey]

No round the clock police? Holy hell that sounds horrible.

It's like "The Purge". Except it never ends! How bad could it possibly be? Humanity has existed for hundreds of thousands of years without an organized police force. If it doesn't kill your species, it can only make your stronger!

 

[water_wendi]

lmao this is not right.

George Washington sent the military to supress an anti-tax revolt.

Yea i always thought the slogan wasnt "taxes are bad" but "no taxation without representation." i think when Washington crushed the couple hundred Whiskey rebels with an army of 10,000+ it drove the point across.

 

[Prototype Viktor]

How far gone do you have to be to want to save $72 a year so your county's library system doesn't go under?

What you need a library for when the school ran out of money for you in the 2nd grade, your homeschooled to learn how to shoe a horse and sew

 

[akira28]

when "fuck you got mine" becomes "oh muh god how did we ever let things get so bad?"

all they need to do is lose the advantages they "got" and that "fuck you" becomes a "lets work together to save my ass".

 

[Agent Gibbs]

Sounds like Utopia! we don't pay tax's to those damn governments
now excuse me i've got a bill to pay for my trash collecting, oh and i need to contribute with my neighbours to have the road outside my house repairing...i wonder if i can afford it with the recent price hike in school, medical and daily travel insurance?

Mental end game some want

 

[tuxfool]

Should ask the Greeks how people not paying taxes worked out for them.

 

[Laiza]

I wonder if this is an acceptable end result for them.

I highly doubt any of them folks actually put any thought into what that kind of world would actually be like. Which is a shame, because that probably bleeds into so many other aspects of their lives...

 

[chaosblade]

I wonder if this is an acceptable end result for them.

I highly doubt any of them folks actually put any thought into what that kind of world would actually be like. Which is a shame, because that probably bleeds into so many other aspects of their lives...

For far too many people it's just a team sport. They don't put any thought into it and don't consider that elections have consequences. They just want their team to win.

 

[Darryl M R]

Do hot take Libertarians argue for no taxes or selective taxes?

I'm confused how there could ever be a positive outcome.

 

[zer0das]

If wages weren't stagnant, I imagine far fewer of these people would exist. Companies don't pay workers as much, workers don't want to pay the government.

 

[Tye The Czar]

The perfect opportunity to use this:

 

[BennyBlanco]

went for more than 10 years without paying any property taxes at all because the county assessor's office couldn't field enough workers to go out and inspect. The house, nestled in the woods with a tidy blue roof and skylights, dodged more than $8,500 in property taxes

$8500 in property tax in 10 fucking years?

are they missing a zero in here? i need to get out of NJ.

Do hot take Libertarians argue for no taxes or selective taxes?

I'm confused how there could ever be a positive outcome.

What does hot take even mean in this context?

 

[tuxfool]

If wages weren't stagnant, I imagine far fewer of these people would exist. Companies don't pay workers as much, workers don't want to pay the government.

If these people didn't exist wages probably wouldn't stay stagnant.

 

[Killa Sasa]

Give 👏 these 👏fucks👏 their 👏 own 👏 planet 👏.

Taxes are awesome. Hold your government officials accountable to use them properly, because the officials are often not awesome.

But that would require critical thinking, which is in short supply for many these days. Dat resentment.

 

[mj1108]

How far gone do you have to be to want to save $72 a year so your county's library system doesn't go under?

It's the mentality of "It won't affect me. I don't use the library."

 

[Patterbits]

Cuz private fire service served people so well before....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_firefighting

The Dollop podcast episode on private firefighters was both hilarious and tragic.

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

Frankly, these people can go fuck themselves. I'm all for debating the merit of various proposed taxes and services, as of course one can be taxed too much relative to the level of service one receives, but if you're unwilling to fund the basic services that we as a society have agreed are part of the package deal of being an American - fire department, police department, public library, etc. - then I'd prefer you find a different locale in which to situate yourself.

 

[Vagabundo]

It seems like these people need a dose of post apocalyptic Trumptopia.

 

[KingV]

While most of the article is bleak, it does point out some positives:



Overall, I definitely think these people are just impoverishing themselves and their descendants over peanuts, but hopefully the good people in government keep fighting and taking care of these dumbasses. Because that's what they're supposed to do.

The entire county only has 22K people. Recidivism rates are likely highly variable because of small sample size.

Next year could be double the surrounding counties. There are probably only 5-6K kids in the county, how many of them likely get into trouble with the law enough to get community service? Maybe a couple hundred per year?

 

[SoulUnison]

How far gone do you have to be to want to save $72 a year so your county's library system doesn't go under?

I used to think it was an unfair absolute, but after hearing numerous acquaintances parrot that "education isn't a right," and similar sentiments, I have to honestly believe that part of the political playbook here is keeping citizens too ignorant and lacking curiosity to ever realize they're betraying their own best interests.

 

[Herne]

Every country has many of it's own problems to deal with. America, though... man things seem really fucked over there, and here is a perfect case where the population are quite happily doing it to themselves. The fuck?

 

[Shaanyboi]

If these people are so fucking clueless as to not understand the basics of how society functions, then let them have their utopia. Meanwhile, let's build a wall to keep their stupidity from getting out.

 

[Aaron Strife]

I once nagged my brother when he suggested he might evade taxes eventually and told me "well you'd do it too!", I replied I wouldn't because taxes do all of these things that are great for society. It's something so simple and yet all the people think that taxes do are go into the pockets of people in the capital cities.

Rule #1 of conservatives:

Assume everyone is as rotten and skeezy as you are.

 

[ClosingADoor]

This is how empires fall. When citizens don't care anymore, take their wealth and safety for granted and don't want to do their civic duties anymore. And a few decades later you are back in the dark ages.

 

[Joni]

I think a bit of Fry and Laurie had a sketch where the police department was privatized, just like the roads. America that was a comedy show, not a documentary.

 

[Aaron]

The entire county only has 22K people. Recidivism rates are likely highly variable because of small sample size.

Next year could be double the surrounding counties. There are probably only 5-6K kids in the county, how many of them likely get into trouble with the law enough to get community service? Maybe a couple hundred per year?

It's also not a new idea. Civilian Conservation Corps was a post WWI federal program that was hugely successful, and somehow never got brought back.

 

[Muppet of a Man]

It's always these white male blue collar mother fuckers that are on or around the poverty line that benefit from the services that want them cut. I love their bs "I pay too much taxes" rhetoric. I bet I pay 3+ times the amount of taxes that imbecile pays, and yet I have the wherewithal to realize that it's for the benefit of the greater community (we live in a nice, progressive college town), which ultimately benefits me and those less fortunate around me.

 

[Muppet of a Man]

Every country has many of it's own problems to deal with. America, though... man things seem really fucked over there, and here is a perfect case where the population are quite happily doing it to themselves. The fuck?

Evil, greedy businessmen, especially those of the bigoted sort, have been scheming to destroy the poor from within for decades, starting with the southern strategy. The idea was to leverage the hate that bigoted, religious blue collar white southerns had for minorities to divide and conquer (i.e., have poor religious whites ask for everything entitlement based to be taken away from them so they can hurt minorities in the process). It's worked brilliantly ever since. All the money that is not collected in taxes stays in the pockets of these rich assholes, and they get richer and more powerful by the day, "adjusting" the laws to their whim and fancy, consolidating wealth and power, and breeding hardship and discord amongst their would-be competition. Christian Fundamentalism and now right-wing media has been their indoctrinating tools of choice.

 

[slider]

Fucking hell. By and large, we live in societies. With other people. Some better off and some worse off.

I look at the amount of tax I pay and, honestly, if I know it's going to keeping society functioning I'm more than content. I mean... Hospitals, schools, police, sanitation... Fuck!!

I'd even be happier "paying" more inheritance tax if I could be assured it would directly impact on those less well off.

Edit: Hmm. Someone's bound to make money. Privatisation of essential services, captive market... Gimme, gimme, gimme!

 

[CyclopsRock]

On the subject specifically of sales taxes, they're about as regressive as taxes get so junking them isn't really a bad thing, though if they're failing to make up for it elsewhere I guess they're boned.

 

[Herne]

Evil, greedy businessmen, especially those of the bigoted sort, have been scheming to destroy the poor from within for decades, starting with the southern strategy. The idea was to leverage the hate that bigoted, religious blue collar white southerns had for minorities to divide and conquer (i.e., have poor religious whites ask for everything entitlement based to be taken away from them so they can hurt minorities in the process). It's worked brilliantly ever since. All the money that is not collected in taxes stays in the pockets of these rich assholes, and they get richer and more powerful by the day, "adjusting" the laws to their whim and fancy, consolidating wealth and power, and breeding hardship and discord amongst their would-be competition. Christian Fundamentalism and now right-wing media has been their indoctrinating tools of choice.

That is incredibly sad for a country that was founded on a (mostly) great constitution citing the ideals of liberty and democracy.

 

[ericexpo]

I once nagged my brother when he suggested he might evade taxes eventually and told me "well you'd do it too!", I replied I wouldn't because taxes do all of these things that are great for society. It's something so simple and yet all the people think that taxes do are go into the pockets of people in the capital cities.

People with this idea are so dumb, my sisters in laws own their own family business so father and two of three sons (not part of it is my sisters husband) they have cheated on their returns for their lives. Now with father in his 70's only gets the minimum benefits and didn't save anything. And the two sons are both in their 50s and did the same thing and complain about the government every night. They also try to avoid anything government related out of fear the IRS is going to bust down the door if they report a tree falling in the street.
My mom only worked for 6 years and gets more social security.

 

[Royal_Phalanx]

And we still get people saying being a tax haven is a good thing. No. Having properly funded public services helps society as a whole (it makes it far less likely for some rich person not to be robbed or something if society is more equal).

 

[harriet the spy]

I often wonder if Americans would be more accepting of taxes if they were "hidden" much like VAT in Europe.

As an example, most people overpay for cell phone service by subscribing to unlimited plans, but they like the security of it all.

If America adopted VAT for sales tax, and simply charged businesses based on salary paid (so that advertised salary was always after tax, w/no deductions) would people feel as "cheated" so to speak?

There is a strange mental component where most folks see a number on a piece of paper and think "MINE" whereas if that number was never there, they'd not give it a second thought. "Oh, that's just a cost the company has to pay."

Ironically this is pretty much the reverse situation with tipping.

 

[Snowybreak]

I think a bit of Fry and Laurie had a sketch where the police department was privatized, just like the roads. America that was a comedy show, not a documentary.

Possibly... But you might be getting it mixed up with a sketch about a gas/petrol station being run by skeezy real estate salesmen.