Hmm, so the consensus seems to be that since people cannot fathom a world without taxes, even with the guarantee that things will be paid without taxes is inconceivable.
The basic question is, if things can be paid for without taxes...would you be ok with it?
That is always the response when I mention not paying taxes "what about the roads and firemen and health care?". It would seem that people want taxes so things could be paid for...but I suspect that most people like taxes more as a punishment for being rich or making too much money.
I believe that the incentive to punish those with more is larger than the incentive to have things paid for.
No.
Because there is no real punishment, other than something you might feel. I guess you are not earning in the levels of 100 million a year, right?
People that do, might pay 40% in taxes and "loose" 40 million a year. That sounds horrible. If there weren't the other 60 million.
You can live off a far smaller amount than that, you can have almost everything you want from that money (Except Bill Gates yacht, I know, I know...).
There is no punishment. I would argue the tax is proportionally way too high, because the person supports the country with a lot more than the average Joe.
But if you earn more, and I mean, FAR MORE, you also have far more money.
Taxing 35% income tax (which is normal in Europe) out of someone earning 3000€ a month hits that person harder than it hits someone taxed 50% on 100 million. Of course the loss is absolutely greater. The 50% are humongous and ridiculous.
But for living his life, someone earning the 50 mill wouldn't loose life quality. Tax someone 40-50% on 50000 a year and he will feel raped. With 50 million, you could still choose how many houses to buy THIS year, live comfortably, fund three companies, live with blackjack whores and still come out a winner.
So, even if the amounts are insane, you are not really punishing the people that are pretty much rich. The people that GET hit the most in most progressive tax systems are the middle class. People in progressive systems with 2-3k€ are not hit much, the people where it really HURTS usually earn between 70k and 200k Euros a year. This is where the taxes really, really hurt, because what is left is great for living on it, but still, you are working for almost double the amount compared to what you pay.
But the question is, what do you GET for these taxes? So let us say you STILL have to pay for basically everything. University education, school education, public transport doubles its price... I am not arguing governments are spending wisely, but from our experiences we know that private corporations don't necessarily do things better.
I am not much for the military here, rather I am thinking about the actual services that could be funded with such money. Research for the betterment of society. That kind of research that led to us talking on this forum here (Funded by governments all over the world at the CERN, adapted from protocols that were tax funded, developed by DARPA.)
