Suzanimal
11-20-2014, 10:01 PM
Poking around the bowels of the internet, I came across this website. WTH??? Sadly, I don't think it's satire.
Taxes are Good
Most conservative criticisms about the ill-effects of taxes are exaggerated or untrue. Taxes are in fact good they are dues we pay to enjoy the numerous vital benefits that government provides for our society.
Are taxes bad? If you've been listening to conservatives for the last several decades, you would certainly think so. Virtually every Republican candidate for office in recent memory has run on an anti-tax platform arguing that Americans are overtaxed, that taxes hurt economic growth, etc. And it is this hatred of taxes that helped propel the passage of hundreds of billions of dollars of tax cuts during the administration of George W. Bush.
This anti-tax campaign strikes a real emotional chord in some Americans and it has been one of the most effective rallying cries of anti-government conservatives. It taps into a taxophobia that is deeply ingrained in American political culture and that manifests itself in the activities of over 800 local and state anti-tax groups. These tax-haters have also been playing a large part in organizing the grassroots Tea Party movement.
But conservatives are dead wrong about taxes. Taxes are not bad.
Taxes are good.
The argument for taxes is a very straightforward one: if government is on balance a very positive force in society, then taxes are good. If what we have seen in other articles on this website is true that government programs help us all in myriad ways every day, that most government programs are working effectively to solve our social problems, and that government is the only way to promote important values like justice and economic security then the taxes needed to support these government activities should be seen as a positive good. To put it another way, you cant support the things the government does like caring for the elderly, establishing justice, providing public education, fighting terrorism, and protecting the environment and still maintain that the taxes that support those things are bad. Taxes are the lifeblood of government and so if government is basically good, then so are taxes.
So instead of seeing paying taxes as analogous to being mugged by the government, we ought to think of these payments more like the tithing that many people do in their churches and synagogues. Most people see these regular donations as a charitable contribution to the good works being done by these religious organizations and they certainly dont resent these contributions. But if the government is also an institution dedicated in large part to doing good works to promoting the public interest then we should not resent our taxes contributing to those governmental activities. In fact, we should feel good about all the good our tax dollars are doing just as we feel good about all the good our religious donations do. Of course it could be argued that there is a big difference here that giving money to churches is voluntary and we are required to pay taxes. But in practice, many religious organizations require members who can afford it to contribute regularly payments that are really more like mandatory dues than purely voluntary donations. In any case, the point is that contributing toward an organization that is promoting the public good should not be seen as a bad thing.
...
http://www.governmentisgood.com/articles.php?aid=17&p=1
Taxes are Good
Most conservative criticisms about the ill-effects of taxes are exaggerated or untrue. Taxes are in fact good they are dues we pay to enjoy the numerous vital benefits that government provides for our society.
Are taxes bad? If you've been listening to conservatives for the last several decades, you would certainly think so. Virtually every Republican candidate for office in recent memory has run on an anti-tax platform arguing that Americans are overtaxed, that taxes hurt economic growth, etc. And it is this hatred of taxes that helped propel the passage of hundreds of billions of dollars of tax cuts during the administration of George W. Bush.
This anti-tax campaign strikes a real emotional chord in some Americans and it has been one of the most effective rallying cries of anti-government conservatives. It taps into a taxophobia that is deeply ingrained in American political culture and that manifests itself in the activities of over 800 local and state anti-tax groups. These tax-haters have also been playing a large part in organizing the grassroots Tea Party movement.
But conservatives are dead wrong about taxes. Taxes are not bad.
Taxes are good.
The argument for taxes is a very straightforward one: if government is on balance a very positive force in society, then taxes are good. If what we have seen in other articles on this website is true that government programs help us all in myriad ways every day, that most government programs are working effectively to solve our social problems, and that government is the only way to promote important values like justice and economic security then the taxes needed to support these government activities should be seen as a positive good. To put it another way, you cant support the things the government does like caring for the elderly, establishing justice, providing public education, fighting terrorism, and protecting the environment and still maintain that the taxes that support those things are bad. Taxes are the lifeblood of government and so if government is basically good, then so are taxes.
So instead of seeing paying taxes as analogous to being mugged by the government, we ought to think of these payments more like the tithing that many people do in their churches and synagogues. Most people see these regular donations as a charitable contribution to the good works being done by these religious organizations and they certainly dont resent these contributions. But if the government is also an institution dedicated in large part to doing good works to promoting the public interest then we should not resent our taxes contributing to those governmental activities. In fact, we should feel good about all the good our tax dollars are doing just as we feel good about all the good our religious donations do. Of course it could be argued that there is a big difference here that giving money to churches is voluntary and we are required to pay taxes. But in practice, many religious organizations require members who can afford it to contribute regularly payments that are really more like mandatory dues than purely voluntary donations. In any case, the point is that contributing toward an organization that is promoting the public good should not be seen as a bad thing.
...
http://www.governmentisgood.com/articles.php?aid=17&p=1