Let's keep this one away from the candidates if we can, I'm just interested in why people both hate or... well maybe not like... but think taxes are a good thing.

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Manu Chao - Bongo Bong

"Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious." - Oscar Wilde

"Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise." - Sir Francis Bacon

Well nobody likes taxes. However we like the idea of living in the jungle less so there we are.

Now some people talk about doing away with taxes. But you still pay the piper somehow. For example in the extreme objectivist/Libertarian scenario you don't pay any tax at all. But you have to pay whoever owns the roads to drive on them. There is no free public school. You pay to go to the park. And you just hope Mexico and Russia don't decide to claim all of Americas offshore oil rigs once national defense is just a bunch of people with AR15s.

For something like a Fairtax you don't pay income tax, but you still pay tax on everything you buy.

Really it comes down to how much you pay and how much you get now vs how much you'd pay vs how much you'd get under a different system.

i prefer enough to too much
i prefer too much to too little
too little leads to chaos, and potentially to absence of effective government
too much leads to corruption, lax methods, and inflation ... which is better than chaos
enough to do the job seems right

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"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."
-Dr Seuss
You should have heard what i meant to say (apologies to Thelonious Monk)
"The police are not here to cause disorder....
...The police are here to preserve disorder."
Hon. Richard J. Daley
Chicago, 1968

I understand the need for some taxes. I don't mind paying for things that are needed to keep the country safe with a solid infrastructure. However, the fact that we are taxed for things that are unnecessary make me angry. If we need to raise taxes to better pay our military, fine do it, but to have to pay for a bridge, a knitting hall of fame and a monument for the largest ball of wax to get the bill passed is idiotic.

I am also tired of the social taxes. If I want to invest my money in my retirement why should I have to pay for those who won't. I am in charge of myself and I am tired of the government treating me as if I am 4 and need them to take care of me with my money.

I agree. The War on Iraq is a good example of that.

The tax code is ridiculously bias towards the rich, and deliberately confusing to take advantage of the working class!

Taxes should be based on a flat figure, across the board, with no deductions that do not directly reduce the burden considered as legitimate expenses on the government! If deductions are deemed necessary for items like homes, to help boost the economy or market, it should be one per customer. The only other reason I could see providing a deduction to an employer would be to create jobs that pay 50% above the poverty line (minimum) to keep American’s working with a livable wage in America.

They are used and spent for the benefit of the people spending them, rather than the people paying them!

Lobbyists should be considered the largest threat to our government, and they need to be shot on sight if ever found within 300 yards of any public building (s), a public officials, or the employee/family member of a pubic official! Public officials found to be consorting/associating/colluding with lobbyists, should be considered traitors and prosecuted accordingly as such!

You always hear that if it wasn’t for the government, wages would be much higher, so all money’s employers "claim" to be giving the government will now be given to their employees (and taxed at that flat basic rate) as it should be and that tax obligation to the employer considered paid in full (no deductions)!

All federal BS taxes on cigs, alcohol, gas, etc… should be eliminated immediately if not sooner.

Anyone found to be cheating the government out of their due tax, will lose all properties and assets, they will be stripped of all citizenship, and banned from U.S. soil for the rest of their natural life!

I personally would also like to see that lawmakers decide on what will be voted into law for each quarterly session and place those items on a public ballet explaining them in their entirety on a pubic web site, and voted on by the people (citizens 18 and over) to be instituted as law!

I guess if we are going to be allowed to wish something that will never come true we might as well wish big!

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There are only two things wrong with this great nation of ours, democrats and republicans!

Not necessarily in that order.

Nice to see you libs keep trying to change the topic. But what is it they say about 1 trick ponies?

For starters I'm not a liberal and second, who's changing the subject? You gave some examples of taxes you don't like and I gave an example of one I don't like. I'm on topic.

Taxes need to be reduced drastically. Get rid of the income tax as well. Stop spending ridiculous amounts of money (because as Bush has shown, it doesn't matter if you have lowered taxes, if you are spending an insane amount) and lower the scope of government and all will be well with the world.

That's pretty much the same page I'm on.
But I might suggest that a little too little is better than way too much... but keeping all things equal too much beats too little.
As much as Nazi Germany or Commie Russia must have been a nightmare, it pales (at least for the average citizen... and frankly I don't think the anarchy-induced genocide in Sudan is any nicer than the government-induced genocide in Nazi Germany... if anything it must be worse because you can' blame the system and try to save some faith in humanity) in comparison to the hell that is the middle east today.

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"It's never over... BOY!"
The Tall Man, Phantasm III