Download Squad

There is no Federal moratorium on the collection of state retail sales and use taxes. The Federal moratorium is on Internet access fees.

That's idiotic. taxes don't keep our world going, the people that keep our world going do. the bricklayers, bus drivers and doctors, and precious few of them are employed by, or recipients of, my tax dollar. Tax dollars didn't buy the clothes I wear in lieu of animals skins, nor pay the person that made them, or the webmaster that ran the site where I bought them, or the driver that delivered them. So why, exactly, would I "thank taxes" or let them stick their grimy hands in my pocket for a piece of a transaction with which they had precious little to do with?

If the government were the best, most efficient way to pool money and collectively pay for goods and services used by the group then maybe you'd have a point. But the government overpays for things that only a handful of people people use, and do a halfassed job of delivering it. Compare the speed/service between Fedex and the USPS. Which one's employees are known for going nuts and shooting people? Thank taxes. Compare private security to the police. Who's more likely to shoot you 61 times for being the wrong shade? Thank taxes. Compare a private maintenance company to a military motor pool. Who's more likely to spend 300 dollars on a screw? Thank taxes. Who's more likely to raise their prices when the economy's tanking; a private company or the government? Thank taxes.

Anthony,

You act like people in New York aren't paying enough taxes already. I would be willing to be that for the average New Yorker the government takes close to 50% of their paycheck, whether its the federal government, state government, or local governments in the form of sales taxes and property taxes. Everybody can understand reasonable taxation, but 50% taxation is oppressive taxation, and its unnecessary, no matter what programs you think are important. If New York can't run their government on the taxes they already receive then they've got bigger problems to worry about...

Junyo & Pete- Did you go to a public school? Thank taxes. If you didn't, thank your parents for going to public schools, universities, etc & making enough to send you to a private one (paid for by taxes)

Do you want people who don't make enough money to get medical treatment (so they can stay well & keep you from getting sick by laying on the street w/ black plague coughing on you) (taxes)? - yes, that's a blunt example & I know that Medicaid does a lot more. But these two seem to not get the basics of what taxes do.

Finally- bus drivers! Most muni's are government subsidized by local taxes. Amtrak, BART, whatever- tax revenue-based income.

Government at all levels will collect 30.8% of the nation's income for 2008. Tax Foundation. Far less than most industrialized nations.

Did I go to a public school? NO! Did my parents go to a public school? NO! Why? Because public schools, paid for by taxes, are wrought with low expectations. Look around, American public schools are a joke! Do I ride the bus? NO! Why? Because I actually want to get somewhere in a reasonable amount of time. Anything the government gets its hands on is inefficient, bloated, and just plain shitty. Yes, the government should provide BASIC services, and as I said earlier a small amount of taxation is always necessary. The government could provide BASIC services for less than 10%...Furthermore, if you love taxes so much, why don't you write the IRS a big fat check? No one is keeping you from paying more taxes. As for me, I'll drive my own car, pay for my own healthcare, and pay for my own schools. I'll also give to the charities which I believe do the best job of helping those in need, all of which do a far better job than any government agency.

Another thing... take a drive around and count how many buildings in your town are government buildings, and then count how many are private businesses, stores, or residences. I guarantee the number of government buildings is not anywhere close to 30%. Yet you willingly hand over 30% of your hard earned money so the government can waste it. The government sucks up 30% of the resources but only contributes about 5% to the gdp.

Pete- If 30% of all buildings were government owned you'd really have something to bitch about.

Enjoy driving your car on GOVERNMENT FUNDED ROADS!

Funny, the first highway in the country, the PA turnpike, built by private industry. The rail system in this country, built by private industry. Plenty of private, profitable bus and trolley lines. Funny, VA allowing private industry to build the roads and assume the costs of construction and doing well, and PA desperately trying to sale poorly mantained roads to private companies because the state did such a bangup job. Funny how the people that set and collect the taxes never seem to send their kids to the tax-payer funded public schools. Real vote of confidence there.

What you don't grasp is it's fine to ask me to pay for such I used/need. But to grab increasing chunks of my money to throw down a rat hole offends me. You tax me for a road, I expect a smooth piece of blacktop, not a cratered obstacle course littered with Teamsters leaning on shovels. To be taxed to death by a governor that engineered the current financial downturn especially offends me. New York made a deliberate choice to rely on reciepts from Wall Street and chased taxed other industry/revenue elsewhere and now that their gamble failed, as per usual they're presenting the bill to the tax payer.

And saps like you eat it up and beg for more.

Junyo,
It cost $300 to replace thing in military motor pools because they need to get it back to a supply chain and fly in parts, USPS is cheaper than FedEx and Police are only more likely to shoot someone dead because rent-a-cops dont carry guns, only tasers.

wait... let me guess... you're still in high school or college and mommy and daddy still pay for all your food, clothes, and toys...

Nope- 31, broke, one child, married- just not willing to abandon my ideals yet.

So Pete, your Ideal is that you exist for the benefit of the state, not the other way around?