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by tomcam 3224 days ago
I respect you greatly. I fear you do not understand the United States government very well. Would you tell me why the USA needs more in taxes and where it excels in using those taxes?
3 comments

I'll answer, though not OP.

Medicare is a pretty good example. As best I'm aware, that program's negotiated rate is less than the average private insurer for any given procedure, which is pretty impressive.

Public broadcasting tends to do quite a lot on a continually reduced budget.

There are a number of programs that are generally inefficient, and while I'd very much like to see greater efficiency, I'd also be very much ok seeing those existing programs have more money: education, infrastructure, Medicaid.

And I feel like most people who malign the government's inefficiency have either never been exposed to the inefficiencies in the private sector, or willfully turn a blind eye to those inefficiencies to make a point. In my experience, all large organizations/projects suffer from an incredible amount of waste - the government is just the poor jerk that deals with some of the largest possible organizations/projects and then has publish that inefficiency for everyone to point at and critique.

> negotiated rate is less than the average private insurer for any given procedure, which is pretty impressive

Not very impressive considering the average prices everybody else pays are artificially inflated by collusion among the medical industry middlemen. That's how we end up with $500 Epipens and then get a "steal" of a discount for only $300.

Taxation is policy. It matters not just in quantity (which you can rightfully question) but (more importantly) quality.

Would you say that legitimately pursuing a law-evader somehow inevitably leads to a police-state?

Not invariably, but it very well could. It depends on what the laws are. Same as here it depends on what the taxes are and how they are spent.
I don't think the US needs more taxes - just the opposite. But those we have should be evenly enforced.