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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: geode00 who wrote (144029)	10/29/2008 2:23:53 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 173976

Paying taxes is not a complete negative. That's like saying that purchasing items in a store is a negative because you have to hand over your cash. No, its like saying the fact the handing over the cash is negative, when considered in isolation. And it is. Purchasing items from a store is only positive because you get back something that you value more than what you spend (otherwise you wouldn't purchase it), but even though the whole transaction is positive, the loss of the cash is itself negative for the payer. Also when you buy something at a store you get something that you value (at the time of purchase at least, you might always change your mind later) more than the money you use. We know this because you do it voluntarily. But taxes are not paid voluntarily, you are required to pay them, and much of what people get back is not as valuable as what is spent (esp. when you consider not only the actual money directly used, but the deadweight loss, such as the cost and time to prepare taxes, and the distortion of incentives to try to get various tax breaks). In fact some programs are not just net negatives (worth less than what is paid for them), but gross negatives (negative even without considering their budgetary cost, let alone the dead weight loss inflicted by that level of taxation)