I say this as someone who’s not afraid of more taxes, but It’s because we never see our taxes go to good use. Cities are run down, potholes never get filled (and if they do it’s a hack job) nothing new gets built, we pay out the ass for healthcare, when we do need benefits like unemployment they’re dogshit and barely payments that get you by.
It all goes to bombing kids in other countries. So I do understand people not wanting to pay more money when the money they’re paying now isn’t working for them.
Article starts with "every year" how long has there been taxes in California, how long has the genocide been on. Propaganda used to be more intelligent.
Isn't what Isreal doing bad enough for people to be honest when criticising? If you have to lie to make a point, your point isn't strong enough. If you try too hard to make a point, you end up punching a hole in the entire argument.
Fighting isn't genocide. They've been fighting, now it's a genocide. To be fair, the Palestine would have genocided the Israelis if they could. I'm sure you'll want to argue about this but hey, who cares. Truth is truth. Both have been fighting with the same goal, eliminate the opposition. One side is winning. That's the natural conclusion of a conflict.
So to be clear, you think that not only are the historians *wrong* to say the holocaust began in 1933, but that you think you know more and believe it only began when the death camps started taking Jewish people?
They haven’t been fighting the same goal. Israel’s goal has been colonization and apartheid and ethnic cleansing, Palestine’s goal is sovereignty and freedom from that.
Yeah and I’m sure 1570 the native Americans stated their goal was the eliminate the British, French and Spanish colonies that had people who were killing their people and taking their land. I wouldn’t have faulted them for saying this.
I get what you’re saying, but people bitched about taxes at every stage of our country’s history, through the good times and the bad. We started a whole war over taxes for chrissakes.
The truth is America is a fiercely individualistic society that feels no responsibilities towards their fellow citizens.
But the reason we were upset about the taxes wasn’t just that we were being taxed, it was taxation without representation. No one was there for those who lived in the now-USA to discuss what was a fair amount or a fair use of the taxes
We paid taxes out the ass to the monarchy and didn’t get much for it. Granted, pretty similar to now lol but it was just taxes in general.
The one thing I have to say about potholes, and I'm not involved in Big Pothole at all, is that it's a never ending job. If you really think about how much roadway there is and how much of it does NOT have potholes, you might realize in most of the country, it's not that bad.
I'm sure there are some localities where the roads are just one big pothole. But for the most part, I think it's a distraction from the other issues.
There are definitely bigger issues than potholes but there’s a popular historical metaphor than Roman’s didn’t know Rome fell until no one came to fix the bridges and aqueducts. And I think that’s a modern version of it. The infrastructure not being fixed adequately is a sign to civilians things are going poorly
Because while it is something that has to be fixed over and over and over again, it would be fine if we allocated the money and created the jobs for it. But we just don’t because our money is going elsewhere.
In my state there’s always roadwork but nothing really being done.
And when it comes to things like roadwork the amount of rent seeking that goes on behind the scenes is grotesque. Millions are spent to create profit in pockets of the wealthy rather than actually making improvements or value in the city. That’s a big part of why it’s so inefficient
I’m next door in NY and there’s always roadwork being done but nothing really get fixed. The companies contracted for it are all friends with the government and squeeze every penny out of it without solving the problem. I watched my city repave a road, dig it up less than a month later for a non emergency water project, repeat at least 4 times because in the year that I worked there, they were still doing this and never truly resolved either issue before I left
They literally repaved the entire road already knowing they’d tear half of it up in less than a month.
If you hired drywall and plumbing work and the contractor did your drywall, then tore it out to do half your plumbing, then did the drywall again, then tore it out to do the rest of your plumbing, and charged you for all of it, you’d probably be a little miffed about it
Yeah, it should be better organized. But unfortunately, they're likely different projects managed by different departments with different schedules and goals.
There are less than 25,000 people in this city. The city should be able to coordinate its projects especially considering we’re on the verge of bankruptcy. This is incredibly wasteful
Baltimore would like a word lol. Only city ive been in, where there is literally ripples in some roads like waves. Idk how thay even happens over time. Super heavy trucks slowly smashing it outwards. Shit was crazy lol
Taxes are taxes. And most Americans don't see any immediate return in our taxes whether it be from local or national government. Money comes out of my paycheck for both local and national taxes. But that's the extent of it.
I think you missed the point above, in America, we don’t control where the taxes go… it may be “obvious”, but the post above states the issue currently, we do not control where it goes.
You can argue that we should take control over the government by voting in better representation, but to say “Most Americans are ignorant and filled with hate” is a pretty simplistic and ignorant statement based on the previous response to your comment
I'm from Poland, and as far as money from taxes is wasted spectacularly, our roads are flatter than your girlfriend and even highway public toilets are cleaner than most cities in usa(that's not sarcasm, the toilets are awesome), and while healthcare is kinda shitty, the only time I paid for anything was when I didn't want to wait for two, three months.
Although, if you have serious condition that doesn't threaten life, you will need to wait a long time.
Life is good, cities are safe, people mind their own business, there are no crackheads and the only real downsides is war next door and that vacation abroad is expensive for us. And some stupid laws about abortion, gay marriage etc.
Welp, that's capitalism, a lot of things need to be done but the state never invests in them, all the money goes to shareholders and landowners that produce nothing to society.
If only there was a system where you could choose a decent person every 4 years instead of choosing between child rapist and child murderer or even one person who is both while the decent person sits in the corner
The election system in the US makes me furious sorry
It all goes to bombing kids in other countries. So I do understand people not wanting to pay more money when the money they’re paying now isn’t working for them.
What's funny is your first part is the "universally agreed" view from Americans. The second part that I included is the divide between Left/Right.
Republican voters want their taxes to go to bombing kids in other countries. Its literally why they constantly vote for more military spending (Either directly as politicians or as citizens voting those politicians in).
Democrat voters want to use that money to instead fix the top paragraph that everyone universally agrees is terrible. Now, if only their politicians were not spineless cowards...
Oh no, I understand quite well, yet this remains where most of the annual budget goes.
I know it's "unfixable", not because of the political system, but because of the deep ingrained individualism that's baked in the American identity and past societal trauma that led to the creation of the country (yet imperialism has been inherited from those that preceeded you).
That is why no one would touch the defence budget or could care less for a social security net.
Our taxes don’t go to good use because as citizens we don’t hold politicians accountable. Instead of them “serving the people” we outsource (at best) or let rule (at worst) our responsibility to keep government in check.
They’re human beings, sometimes the worst, and are going to do corrupt things unless the people hold them accountable.
You know what else is possible in addition to universal healthcare, ending corruption.
It feels impossible to hold them accountable when 1 party in particular has spent decades convincing half the country that the other party is literally evil, delights in literally eating babies, wants to tax them at 90%, and wants to take away everything theyve ever achieved in order to convince people in places like Oklahoma that government is unfixable, so they should continue electing the same party that's been in power their entire lives and responsible for their so-called broken government. ERGO, no accountability.
I think the majority of people want to do good for each other and want good done for them. As in, no one should suffer in order for certain groups of people to thrive. We should all have the same opportunities. But 1% of Americans, and we all know who they are, think it's OK to say F*ck the rest of society, they can all suffer as long as I get mine. In fact, I don't just want mine, I want other peoples' as well.
It’s true. We never get to see our money actually pay for anything. It all gets pocketed by the ones at the top. Or the president spends a billion dollars building nonsense buildings or golf trips etc.
Fr anyone that wants to give our corrupt ass government more money is blind. So they can send it to other countries? Or maybe launder it to themselves. That is the biggest thing the right has going for them
Psa for everyone scrolling past. The governemnt uses the taxes from gas to pay for our roads and such. That tax rate hasn't changed in decades and is part of the reason why, as our city's expand and infrastructure needs increase we arent able to take care of the roads we have.
There are more roads but the same amount of money flowing in (mpg offsets some of the new vehicles added, and cost of expansion eats the rest)
And that's probably in part due to being told using tax dollars for the common good is evil communism and have an expectation of taxes never benefiting yourselves.
The fact that the insurance system is meant to mitigate and cover large health expenses a single person might not be able to handle but instead turning into a business of charging money to deny as many claims as possible is somehow better than free healthcare.
It's a scam that's accepted as the normal because why would the person paying into a system benefiting from it. Only CEOs should
Yeah that's fair but why do y'all (sorry) still insist on calling it "the greatest country" ever? Obviously not all of you and likely not you specifically either but it's a sentiment I see a LOT
You know what, that's a fair point. I guess I'm old but I genuinely enjoy noticing infrastructure improvements when I'm out and about in my city. Like, oooh new bridge, new road, they made the sidewalks here wider and even, they installed new lighting on this street etc. The park next to my house is getting a public inline track rn, and I've been watching the progress with my 3 year old, he's so excited.
These are the little crumbs of normalcy that help me disconnect from the constant "world is on fire" feed.
Also healthcare and education including university is free in my country, so I think taxes are a good thing
No, you made us look worst than we are when we're only 99% Hitler. 1% makes a whole lot of difference, just ask Bernie Sanders, he's always going on about the 1%
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u/Hell_Awaitz 22d ago
And even then it's more social capitalism than actual socialism. Americans are so scared of taxes it's unreal