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so we're talking details

Posted by EthanEdwards on 2018-April-29 22:25:28 EDT, Sunday
In reply to slavery, debt, and taxes posted by Baldur on 2018-April-29 14:46:45 EDT, Sunday
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OK, so you're not actually espousing radical anarchy. That's nice.

I don't see what debt has to do with it. You cherry-pick your stats for those 5-10% numbers (and Ben Franklin isn't a stat).

Now, it's true that there is corruption in the system, no doubt about it. Having a national debt that requires so much interest also speaks to bad past policy. We spend way more on the military than we need to.

Yet compared to the governments Ben Franklin was thinking of, we get a lot of services for our money -- roads, airports, and education is a big one. Yeah, sure, enlightened home schooling might be better, but universal free education is a huge plus to the large numbers of people who wouldn't do that on their own. And of course there's Medicare and Medicaid paying for expensive but effective medical care that Franklin could only dream of -- and social security for retirees, a basic safety net through food stamps, etc.

And while working people have high tax burdens, the income tax is one of the most progressive (maybe inheritance is moreso...). Replacing sales taxes with income taxes would be progressive, and audits are a feature of the income tax system.

But humans have not been perfected to the point where you can trust everybody to pay on the honor system, and I don't we ever will be that perfect.


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