Death & Taxes

Long Onion

A question for today:

There was a notion of a social contract - people were willing to pay taxes in the belief that their money was going to help those worse off than themselves and also to finance necessary services.

Looking at the recent raft of recession threads I find myself thinking that there is no longer a belief in the social contract. People don't seem to believe that the money is getting to the right places and are therefore getting relly p*ssed with increasing levies etc.

So my question is this - Is the social contact dead and in need of a burial i.e. should we move for once and for all to a society where we all look after ourselves and ourselves only or, do we need to renew the belief that taxes are actually a good thing.

If you vote the latter, what do we need to change before you would be happy to pay taxes to the government?

DamoDLK

Long Onion wrote: »

what do we need to change before you would be happy to pay taxes to the government?

The Government..

My name is URL

Of course we need to pay taxes, to be able to support infrastructure etc

It'd be a hell of a lot better if FF weren't deciding where it was all going though

Long Onion

Well, what cahnges would you like to see, for example would you need healthcare workers giving opinions on the HSE budget for example?

tolosenc

Tax is theft...

There's really only justification for minimal taxation.

davyjose

where's the death? I came here for the death ... but all I got was taxes

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

First they tax you, then you die. Simple.

Expresso Bongo

I don't care if it's getting to the people who 'need' it or not. All I care is that it gets to the 'right' people. I feel puzzled when I hear people complaining that some total piece of scum gets 40000 in social welfare due to having 15 kids or whatever. Grand by me. It's a small price to keep them in their place I'm glad they got the money. You see I've always felt that we should pay adequate social welfare just to keep the proles down - especially the ones with anti-social and criminal tendencies.. If you were to cut their freebees or redirect them these individuals quickly turn the country into a violent and crime riddled hell as a result of having to find other ways to fend for themselves and hateful little spawn. Better to just keep them docile, well-fed and out of sight / out of mind. Now don't get me wrong. I personally couldn't care less if they all died in the gutter, most of them are no use to society, but I do see the value\requirement for looking after these people just to keep the peace. As long as that continues I'm happy enough with the status quo.