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When I moved to America, I was surprised by the amount of fees. Fees to pick up garbage, visit a doctor, and drive on most highways.
The country I lived in had higher taxes, but almost no fees.
Americans seem dumb when it comes to taxes and fees.
It’s the illusion of freedom that Americans are obsessed with. The idea is that we are free to choose our insurance provider, doctor, utility provider, etc.
The reality is we are stuck with the insurance plan our employer provides or that we get on the healthcare marketplace and we go to the doctor that our insurance company partners with. Utility providers are restricted to whoever provides service at our address.
Add to that, Americans as a whole are extremely selfish. My Uber-conservative parents and in-laws would give us their last dollar but thumb their nose at the idea of helping someone they don’t know.
None of us have the actual numbers, but I would bet a hefty amount that if we just socialized everything that we already pay for, the bill each month would not be much different.
From everything I've seen, the bill would be cheaper.
Americans have a cultural dislike of taxes (for a wide array of reasons, including selection bias on who actually moved to America).
Thus, Americans (painting with a broad brush) tend to favor policies that charge people who do/consume a thing, rather than the tax base as a whole.
I find this immensely frustrating, but it is unfortunately true.
The premise is solid though. Charge the people that use the thing more than those that don't. It all breaks down though because the people that use them the most are corporations and receive the largest tax incentives.
Sounds great until you need an ambulance or firefighters to come save your ass.
It breaks down because in nearly every instance, it's just regressive taxation on poor people
Also, many Americans dislike taxes because they don't want "their" money being spent on people with whom they feel no affinity. It's always going to be a problem in large countries with diverse populations.
And if it seems like I'm beating around the bush and phrasing this comment in charitable terms, it's because I am. Deliberately.
There are some communities in the USA that consistently vote down funding any sort of public fire department through taxes. Obviously they still need a fire department, so their "solution" is "private fire companies" with a subscription model.
These private firefighters will show up to any fire and they'll save lives ... but after they pull you out they'll let your house burn to the ground if you didn't buy a fire protection plan from them.
I don't think we're (all) dumb, I think we don't have a choice.
Don't take offense to them calling Americans dumb. It's a generalization of our culture. Not you as a person.
Americans are dumb with how we deal with taxes and money and socialization of services.
Well it wouldn't be the issue that it is if we had a system that was designed to at least be somewhat responsive to popular opinion. It's not like anyone can just wave a magic wand and reform our antiquated system. It was very deliberately designed to be very difficult to change and there are powerful interests doing everything they can to make sure it that it doesn't.
What zero regulation on utilities and property tax does to a mfer.
I'm from California and in the income tax bracket that would definitely pay fewer taxes in Texas, but I'm happy to pay more because I feel like we get a lot for our taxes here. There's still waste, but we have so many social safety nets in comparison to other states it is well worth it. Not to mention the government has been running a budget surplus which is given directly back to Californians rather than pocketed by the government.
So I’m hearing you don’t want your tax money spent on giving people tanks to arrest children for having abortions? Then where do your taxes go?
Probably to some hippie stuff, like libraries, or roads, or a power grid that doesn't shit the bed every year.
power grid that doesn't shit the bed every ~~year~~ season.
Texas had a budget surplus too. They decided to give it to people who own real estate.
I'm an American who has been living in Turkey for many years.
In Turkey, the political leaders in both sides of the aisle tell you not to pay income tax or property tax or payroll tax or any of the normal things Americans complain about. What is the result? An iPhone costs more than $3k. A ford focus that costs about $20k new in the US is over $50k in Turkey. EVERY package you receive is opened by the post office and inspected to see how much they can tax you. If you leave Turkey and want to bring the things you bought with you, you are taxed an exit fee.. You can potentially be charged three or four times for the same item.
Whenever I hear Americans bitching about taxes it drives me insane. They have no idea what they're asking for. The government needs money to function and they are going to get it one way or another..
Not only does the government needs money, services centralized in the hands of the government end up costing less because they have a monopoly and they don't run them for a profit! Over here road insurance is private only for the vehicle, our insurance as today users (you know, the stuff that costs a fortune to insure because breaking both legs costs more to the system than whatever car you're driving) costs peanuts in comparison to places where it's the private sector that controls it (if I lived across the border from where I am my registration + insurance cost would be double what it is now).
Trains aren't important because they make a lot of money. Trains are important because they make the land around them worth a lot of money. Businesses near train stations get more customers. People pay more for houses near train stations. Cities with strong transit systems have a higher GDP.
Despite this, England privatised its rail system and expects the rail companies to make a profit. Instead, English people are poorer and the government has less money.
I understand that the government needs money to function, I just want them to stop taking 30%+ of my income in order to buy billion dollar boats that shoot million dollar bullets.
I'm okay with the 30% so long as they stop using it to buy more and more expensive toys to murder brown children with. We're not getting what we pay for as a society, but the idea that we can make that right by privatizing everything is ridiculous and just continuously doesn't work.
Almost like their regressive taxation is working exactly as planned
Been trying to point this shit out to people for at least a decade. Texas property taxes are insane. Every road they build or redo is full toll or has "express" toll lanes. My water bill has over $100 a month that are taxes no one talks about tacked onto it, which seem to go up every few months.
Everyone used to point out the low cost of living as why you wanted to live in Texas, but that hasn't been true for a while. Been to New York, California and Colorado multiple times in recent years. Everything cost about the same. These are places the right wingers used to scream about how much more expensive they are. Decent neighborhoods around Austin or DFW cost just as much for housing as most "expensive" cities now and exise taxes are insane here. Anyone not making like a quarter mill+ a year is paying a way higher tax percentage in Texas than most states with income taxes.
Exactly, I moved from TX to OR and the money saved is pretty crazy. Sure, income taxes are higher and other things cost a little more but it was overall a huge net positive in spending/saving.
Wowie! Who ever could have guessed that mass electing boot lickers and toadies of corporations and the super rich could ever result in the 99% being fucked over at every turn? I sure hope they have a good reason to not elect people with the working class's interests at heart and not just because some lobbyists said liberal bad!
Second highest property taxes in US last time I checked.
Only second? Who the hell is first? Texas gotta step up their game
And plenty of people will continue to vote against their own interests, and the rest of us will be blamed for not compelling them to do literally anything that would actually help themselves out.
And plenty of people will continue to vote against their own interests,
When you take white supremacy into account, many of those people are voting FOR one of their primary self interests.
I have no problem with paying taxes. I would pay more if it went to things that actually mattered instead of to corporate pockets. Universal healthcare, better schooling and teacher wages, public transportation, a power grid that doesn't go out when it's needed most, actual road maintenance instead of just cones blocking off most of the lanes with no workers.
Edit: Also have the super wealthy pay their share as well.
I would pay more if it went to things that actually mattered
The really fun part of this is that if we all banded together and negotiated as one nation of almost 400 million people almost everything would be cheaper than if we all negotiate separately. Everything could be better and cheaper, but the "freedom" of the US is the freedom of every antelope to negotiate on its own with the local pride of lions. It's the freedom to get forced into bad deals with the threat of homelessness, it's the freedom to starve, it's the freedom to work and scrimp and save your whole life and then have all that wiped out by medical bills after an accident that's someone else's fault.
It’s a goddamn shame that Texas is such a political shithole of a state. The land is beautiful, (most) of the people are awesome, the food’s great. But it’s literal hell to try to exist there.
I pay $700/month to live in my own house