LogFAQs > #946356401

LinkPizza posted...

That doesnt really make sense. They can always donate to make sure the money actually goes to things that can help people if they want instead of going to the government who can do whatever they want with the money... And it probably wont get used on the stuff you want it to get used on if the government gets it... But most people dont just want to pay more money in taxes because they make more. They earned their money, which is more than others, so its theirs. But they can always donate if they think they have more than enough. Forcing them to pay more taxes would kind of suck for them...

Many things are not in effect because we don't have the money/taxes for it. You don't take taxes for nothing, so if you are going to tax more, it has to be for a set reason, IE better healthcare or Social security, affordable housing etc.

Donating yourself isn't really donating most of the time as it's a tax deduction, it's one of the large loopholes that the rich use (often donating to trusts or organizations under their control or that hires friends/family etc (and pays them alot with the donations) etc. Donating if you are taking the basic exemption...that is donating, donating when your itemizing and using the donations to offset what you pay, is just at best controlling where your taxes go (and quite often is avoiding paying taxes at all and diverting the money to relatives and friends).

Why is education for profit in this country? We could easily make it free and pay for it with taxes (and it would use WAY less taxes then we currently are basically using with student loans that won't get paid back in fact).

Why is healthcare for profit, it could be paid for by taxes again, and again would be WAY cheaper (even then what we pay right now just for ER etc).

More taxes (without really hurting anyone that is paying it, since it would be top end taxes over say $400k a year), enable alot of things that people struggle with right now, to be free, and not so inneficient cost wise.

But the exact reasons mentioned above (for profit) is why most of that won't happen, and why most politicians won't fight for it, because more taxes don't just hurt the wealthy directly, but also indirectly by providing services they currently charge an arm and a leg for (and make billions of dollars each year from), like healthcare, education, prisons etc.

Provide that with taxes and you stop a bunch of very rich people from making tons of money, and they have all the power, so how will that ever actually come to pass if the people who actually have the power don't want it.

But the underlying question is.....should people with so much, contribute to society to ensure people who don't have much have at least a basic happy life, with healthcare then can rely on, free education for their children at least so they can hopefully get jobs they like, housing they can afford etc?

Donating to organizations doesn't really help, or at least I have not seen it helping. Changing laws, making things like healthcare free etc, that would help. Making more hospitals available so people don't get turned away, that would help. Allowing people to go to college without wracking up so much debt they can never get out from under it, and some just kill themselves because of it eventually, that would help.

Donations, charitable orginizations etc, are great, and can be done on top of everything else, but honestly, we should have a system that ensures everyone has the ability to have a good, safe life at least in this country and eventually throughout the world. We have the technology to ensure that is true easily, so it's only greed at this point that is holding us back.

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Tacobot 3000 "Saving the world from not having tacos."
Friends don't make their friends die Hanz. Psychopathic friends do.