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by zpeti 2101 days ago
I am amazed at how easily you skip over the fact that this means government gets to spend that money. As if that were some ideal outcome which would solve all problems.

Which government exactly is it that you think is excellent at solving societal problems and spending taxes efficiently?
2 comments
aidenn0 2101 days ago
I tend towards the conservative side of center, which has been an uncomfortable place for the past 10+ years in the US -- both parties moving away from the center, but the GOP doing so much faster.

I thought for certain the level of hate the left has for the current federal regime would make my constant refrain of "do we really think the government will do a better job?[1]" finally make sense. However, the empirical fact that government agencies will be directed by those you don't like doesn't seem to deter people from wanting to increase the role of those agencies.

1: To be clear: I'm not an anarcho-libertarian; I think the answer to this question can very often be "yes" but living in coastal California, I too often seem to be surrounded by people who think getting the government involved is the only reasonable solution to any problem. Conversely there is a very large minority of the US right that seems to think that bombs, guns and walls is the only time the answer is "yes"

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winston_smith 2101 days ago
Seriously! Replace "government" with "Donald J. Trump" and all of a sudden it doesn't seem to appealing to have government in charge of healthcare, education, and Chuck Feeney's fortune, at least to a lot of the people making the argument.
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Baeocystin 2101 days ago
Not the person you asked, but I think Singapore does a good job of things. Their civil servant class is exceptionally skilled.
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aidenn0 2101 days ago
I don't know much about Singapore, but it tops the Heritage Foundation Index of Economic Freedom, which implies it has a fairly low tax burden.

[edit]

The top individual income tax rate is 22 percent, and the top corporate tax rate is 17 percent. The overall tax burden equals 14.1 percent of total domestic income[1].

1: https://www.heritage.org/index/country/singapore

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throwaway0a5e 2101 days ago
Those sorts of comparisons are always a three way tug of war between the letter of the law (what you can do on paper), enforcement (what you can do in reality) and taxes (the cut the .gov takes).

Depending on how much you value each one depends on the answer you get.

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