[zo1]

Not to be confrontational, but this example is super tiny in the grand scheme of things. Government at this point practically owns us. They take almost 50% of our labor via taxes (under the "noble" euphemism of paying for our fair share of government governing us.)

They don't protect us from crime via police, they beat and imprison us if we stray from their stated path, and we have no choice to not participate. Yes we can technically choose to move to another king's domain and be serfs there. To be fair even this highly regulated legally and not an easy option for many.

Honestly, we're way passed due for a revolution. The government has become a self serving and self perpetuating machine that uses people rather than serving them.

[RoyalHenOil]

I strongly suspect that most of this is a consequence of declining democratic participation, especially at the local level. When most people don't vote, it makes the government beholden only to those few who do — and they tend not to be a demographically representative bunch. This is the same issue that makes it so easy for HOAs to become heavy-handed or corrupt.

One of the pleasant surprises I had, immigrating from the US to Australia, was discovering how much more responsive the government is to the populace, even at the municipal level. The big difference is that, here, virtually everyone votes in all elections at every level of government because it is considered a legal responsibility of citizenship, just like jury duty and taxes. This means that time-poor, lower-class single parents have exactly the same voting power as retired busybodies, and that makes a HUGE difference to how smoothly and fairly everything operates.

[Workaccount2]

It absolutely blows my mind that the US cannot even make election day a national holiday.

[maxerickson]

The US doesn't have any national holidays.

We have federal and state holidays that specify that those government employees have those holidays, but private employers aren't required to do anything on those days (there might be some states that impose requirements, but certainly not a majority).

[callalex]

Where do you live and how did you calculate your 50% figure?

[zo1]

South Africa. Where the highest tax bracket is 45%, one below it is 41% where the bulk of the individuals in our HN field would fall under.

https://www.sars.gov.za/tax-rates/income-tax/rates-of-tax-fo...

And yes it's "progressive", but I'm rounding up for arguments-sake due to all the "other" taxes that aren't individual income tax. Fuel levy, sugar tax, VAT, import tax (err "duties"), cigarette tax, employment insurance tax, property transfer fees/taxes, estate taxes, capital gains tax, etc.

Either way... 50% is big, but so is 40%, or 30%. Doubly so in South Africa because we have no choice but to pay for a lot of supposed government services using post-tax income (due to this being a failed 3rd world state that doesn't provide actual services). E.g. healthcare, security, fire, insurance, etc.

Cherry on top: Only 5-10% of the population even pays income tax here. So no it's not paying one's fair share, this is a giant socialist wealth-redistribution system where a good chunk gets carved out and given to the high-ranking government priesthood and otherwise connected individuals. The scraps make their way to underfunded government services for the real poor serfs to maybe get some benefit out of, unfortunately. The reason I mention this, is that it's the same in other governments, they're just less blatant about it. It's only in these extreme examples that people see the nature of what's going on, and how they are actually slave-labour for the government. Well... at least only 50% of their labour /s.

[Workaccount2]

Your original comment becomes much more understandable when you mention you live in SA.