[caeril]

> how is the one tax somehow better?

Local and state taxes generally actually help you. Your local infrastructure is maintained, and your kids go to schools funded by your taxes.

Federal taxes, however, are largely transfer payments from the productive to the unproductive, as well as funding wars in areas that have absolutely nothing to do with you.

It's pretty easy to make the distinction between "good" and "bad" taxes.

[vel0city]

Completely ignoring the actual question.

>> If there were five taxes of one percent each versus one tax of 20% how is the one tax somehow better?

Would you rather pay five different tax authorities a 1% tax each or a single tax authority 20%? Not asking about the morality of those five tax authorities, in this example they're all the same.

The argument is against this idea "double taxation" is something inherently wrong. In the end it's not a matter of how many different taxes actually apply to a given transaction, what matters is the tax amounts and where those taxes are going to.

[8note]

I'm generally helped by my federal taxes going to help feed students in poor areas. Both from a feel good standpoint and that those students have a better chance at becoming more productive, which means they can buy stuff from me.

I also benefit from those foreign wars because they keep the US empire of cheap shipping open, so I can buy stuff for cheap from countries who've specialized in manufacturing