[briandear]

I pay taxes. That doesn't mean that I owe the government for every accomplishment that I've achieved. You seem to subscribe to Obama's "You didn't build it" statement.

You also fail to acknowledge that a large majority of the spending you've described could be privately run. I'm not suggesting that it should be, however, it's possible some of it could be. If I went to a private school supported by no government money, does that mean I ought to pay taxes to that private school if I happen to become a billionaire? After all, if it weren't for that school, I wouldn't have the education to have built something that made me a billionaire.

Well that's bullshit. I pay a gas tax to drive on the road. I pay a telephone excise tax as well as state and local taxes. I also pay sales tax. I pay property tax, I pay school taxes. I pay taxes on buying and registering a car, I pay taxes when I sell and transfer the title to a car. I pay parking taxes, airport taxes, airline taxes.

I don't owe government a "debt" because of my success any more than government owes me anything because of my failure.

[auctiontheory]

That doesn't mean that I owe the government for every accomplishment that I've achieved. You seem to subscribe to Obama's "You didn't build it" statement.

I didn't say you owe the government for every accomplishment. But perhaps I have a different perspective, which is hard to convey over a message board, from having traveled and lived in several countries where the government does not enable the infrastructure (legal, financial, etc.) for businesses to thrive that we enjoy in the US.

Unless you believe that Americans are genetically superior Übermensch, you have to give some credit to "the system" for making the success of this economy, relative to most of the world, possible. And your taxes, to the extent that they are wisely spent, support that system and ensure its survival.