| > It astonishes me that people like you seem to be oblivious of the effects of these kinds of tricks and games, when this community is regularly discussing social engineering, dark patterns, marketing gobbledygook, etc. Don't you see the hypocrisy of talking about "dark patterns" while trying to use every psychological trick in the book to trigger people's emotional responses that are opposed to their rational beliefs? Sure, most of us will complain about taxes being higher than we like sometimes, but most of us also understand that those taxes pay for services that the vast majority of us want and rely on - we want healthcare, safety nets, infrastructure, quality education, etc. We can argue about a few % here or there but we also understand that we couldn't have those things if all of our taxes were substantially lower. We already have transparency as all taxes and contributions are plainly documented on every receipt, pay slip, and tax invoice. Laypeople argue about taxes all the time, they complain about VAT and income taxes being too high, they aren't under the illusion you think they are. Your entire strategy seems to be making bureaucracy and every day activities as irritating, anxiety-inducing, bias-inducing, and stressful as possible when it comes to taxes in order to get people to turn on taxes entirely. That's not transparency but subversion of people's self-interests through dark patterns you claim to oppose. > Talk to anyone that runs a personal business admit how they feel writing 6 or 7 digit checks to the government every quarter or so It feels gut-wrenching in the moment, but I don't believe that public policy should be influenced by our fleeting emotional reactions and I'm surprised to hear this quiet part said out loud. |