It’s always talked about in the media as if everyone cares, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard a normal person complain.
We have a saying in my country: there’s no point in complaining because nobody listens. I mean we are all paying so what’s the point of moaning about it
The last 2 months I have cared a lot. I typically overpay my tax on purpose so the IRS gets an interest free loan and I get to save some money. I aim to change that soon so I just pay what I owe, and possibly don’t get a refund in April. I don’t want to give the regime a single penny more than I owe, and frankly if my state seceded and I didn’t have to give them a dime, it would be preferred.
I think taxes are great, but the rich really need to pull their own weight. The new taxes just fuck over the poor/middle class
I was glad that when I started earning a lot more money, I was being taxed more on that higher portion of the earnings. In theory, this means that I am supporting more good things. I am disenfranchised, however, with the fact that clearly large corporations and the mega rich are not paying their fair share, and that often my tax pounds are being spent in direct opposition of my very existence (anti trans policy, reversal of climate policy, etc).
I care about taxes, a lot, but I don’t care about being taxed a lot, as long as the heavy taxes I face are being used in a good way. If a small dip to my quality of life or excess earnings means that overall the quality of life in the country gets better, I’m super happy to see it.
I’d care a hell of a lot less about the amount if it felt like it was being used for anything other than padding rich assholes pockets. I want my taxes to feed and help people, repair and maintain roads, and subsidies public transit. I guess I’m saying I want my money to help my community and the vulnerable, not sit in some rich fuckers bank account while a homeless settlement I drive by daily grows, tent by tent.
As for me, I would rather pay lower taxes and have everyone else pay higher taxes. I vote for higher taxes every time.
I care more about where they are spent. My local government is spending it far better than my federal government. If it was half my income and was spent in ways that lower the cost of living and improve quality of life, then I’d have no problem with that.
If I get a tax cut, I think, cool, at least I choose where this money goes, because I actually do give some to non-profits that benefit society. Tax amounts are not something which determines how I vote, I gloss over it in the news, it’s just incidental that the anti-worker parties want to raise my taxes and spend them in worse ways.
I care a little bit. I work as a welder and am on the verge of completing a four year apprenticeship. My pay is going to shoot up, so I need to plan to save money for tax day.
Right now I have my employer taking an extra $15 out of each paycheck to give to the IRS. It used to be enough to receive a refund. But these past four years as my pay increased, that refund gets smaller and smaller.
I’m going to have to get my employer to take a bit more out of each paycheck. Tgat way I wont owe anything at the end of the year.
I care anytime some rich prick pays less than me.
The vast majority of tax in most countries is paid by those with higher incomes. In the US the top 1% of earners pay more than 40% of the tax collected and almost all the tax (97%) is paid by the upper half of earners.
In the UK the numbers are a little different, but tell the same story (top 1% pays around 30%, top 10% pays around 60% of all tax collected).
So while I know you mean relatively and not absolutely it’s still worth spending at least one minute to consider how much of the tax burden is actually shouldered by the wealthy.
I come from a Scandinavian country and I’m ALL in on redistribution, free education, free healthcare etc. But let’s not have politics ignore the facts.
The top 1% here in the US absolutely don’t pay their fair share. In theory, they pay 40%, but there are so many loopholes that they often don’t pay any at all.
I pay quite a bit in Denmark, but used to live in the US.
I pay more taxes now (not THAT much more but definitely more). However I see what I get for my taxes here: healthcare, bicycle lanes, cheap and very good trains/metro/ferries/buses everywhere, etc., and sooo much support for people. It makes me proud to pay taxes here, even though of course I always want more in my pocket and I want more for my money.
In the US I hated the taxes because I paid more than rich people (as they pay nearly none) and I didn’t feel like i got a lot from them.
No problem with taxes as a concept, but I hate how the US uses tax money
healthcare, bicycle lanes, cheap and very good trains/metro/ferries/buses everywhere
Danish healthcare is cheaper than US healthcare, and bicycles/public transit are also cheaper than the car centric US transportation infrastructure. If the US adopted socialized healthcare and sane transit, we’d pay less taxes not more.
I agree, if the US also used their tax dollars as intelligently as the Danish government does as well.
Seems like a pipe dream, but I hope at least parts of the US become more modern in those ways in my lifetime
I’ve heard many right wing folks complain, because in this country at least (Canada), the right LOVES to brain wash them into believing government should be smaller, socialism is bad, and high taxes are evil (even though when they get in they only give tax breaks to their rich friends).
I, one of seemingly few rational thinking humans left in this country, have always understood, believed, and told those people at every opportunity - “THAT IS WHAT PAYS FOR OUR SERVICES”
I remember before I deleted my FB account one tool on there complaining about an incoming ‘digital services tax’ (i.e. Netflix subs and such), and I quickly skim his wall or whatever, and he was collecting the “oh noes, I lost my job cause covid, please give me money government” benefit we had just like, a year prior - they SERIOUSLY just do not understand they very benefits and services they rely on and complain aren’t big enough or good enough, ARE FUNDED BY THOSE DAMN TAXES.
As infuriating as all that is - it’s even worse to see an entire half of our government fanning the flames of this idiocy, reinforcing it, and teaching them it is right!!
Yes, the property taxes in my city are the highest legally allowed and the services we receive are dogshit.
Be mad at the way the collected taxes are spent of course. Paying tax is the cost of living in a community or societies. Unfortunately we as peons don’t get as much control over where it is spent, but definitely should have a say.
i never did really care about income and property taxes (including vehicle related taxes), even though they can be a pain in the *ss. i believe they’re a fair share of contribution to society, at least in the capitalist context that we live in. but it bothers me product taxes, especially those levied upon non-processed or low-processed food, medicine, basic hygiene and cleaning, basic clothing and products not produced in your country when said country doesn’t have an industrial policy to encourage the production of these items internally.
I’m fine paying what I pay, but I reserve the right to question the quality of services they pay for.
And no. A person who pays millions dollars of tax does not have a louder voice than I do. We are all the same tax payers who pay proportionally to our earnings.
Give me back the public infrastructure I need and the billionaires hate.
If it were being used responsibly I’d advocate for higher taxes, but here in the US taxation is theft.
