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Originally Posted by Kaefer
1. That list below assumes one has a dog, smokes, drinks, fishes, hunts, has an RV, owns a truck used for commercial purposes, is unemployed, married, just received a large inheritance, AND is over 65. ALL at the same time.
2. Those taxes fund our schools, roads, unemployment benefits, social security and medicare benefits, and police force; they ensure companies do not lie to us, over-charge us, or destroy our environment; they keep our skies safe; they fund the most successful space program in the world, and the best military in the world; they provide guaranteed, low-income school loans... You get the point.
I hate paying taxes as much as the next guy; but every story has two sides. I hate it when people complain about the taxes they pay, but fail to acknowledge the very things those taxes make possible.
Yes, we pay a lot of taxes, and yes, we waste a lot of it. If you think we pay too many taxes, though, spend some time in Europe where the normal taxpayer is dishing out some 50%-60% of his salary for taxes.
Juan
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BTW, I think most Americans do pay 50-60% of their income in taxes. When you add up all the various taxes, I think it adds up to that.
Another big difference between Europe and the US is health care. In Europe, taxes include health care costs. In the US, most people pay that out of pocket. I know you can say that your employer pays for it, but that just means they are deducting it from your pay. If they didn't have to pay it, you would have a higher salary. I read the other day that the average cost of health insurance for a family of 4 in 2006 was $11,500. So figuring that in, I thnk we pay more taxes than Europeans, and we get less government services.
I think we certainly can cut down on the waste (i.e. corruption) and have lower taxes. We can also simplify the tax structure. But to compare things to how it was 150 years ago is rather rediculous.