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.
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.
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 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.
Property taxes bug me a lot. The tax has gone up over 10% each of the past 3 years. It’s adding a lot to my mortgage.
Texas sucks. Everyone talks about how much it has a low cost of living and minimal taxes because there is not a state income tax, then the homeowners insurance rates go up or get cancelled and you can count on property taxes going up 10% annually. We bought our house in 2016 and the amount has gone up 10% every year since, not including the other bond issues which increase the tax rate on top of the existing rate.
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’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.
I pay a lot in taxes because I earn a lot. I earn a lot because I work hard and I was lucky (had the right opportunities, enjoyed work that is well compensated by capitalism, etc). I don’t care paying high taxes
Only when the administration is blatantly corrupt. I take pride in funding my share of society, but not when nutjobs are spending it.
If you get within earshot of a Republican, chances are you’ll hear complaints about “damn taxes” within five minutes. So to a certain set of people, definitely everyone they talk to is constantly complaining about taxes.
When I was starting out and making little money, the taxes I paid were definitely cutting into my ability to live. I think instead of “standard deductions” we should have real minimum incomes. If you are under the minimum income for your location, you don’t pay taxes.
Now that I am at the end of my career, I think it’s stupid that my taxes are not higher. If I could have given young me some of the money I am keeping now, I would have had a much better life overall. I obviously can’t do that now, but I can give someone else the same breathing room.
If you are under the minimum income for your location, you don’t pay taxes.
Then what if you start earning more, suddenly have to pay taxes and end up getting the same or even less than before?
That is not how taxes work. If you earn the minumum income or less, you pay no taxes. If you are above the minimum, you pay taxes on the amount that surpasses the minimum only, so there is no way of getting less if you earn more.
I am perpetually shocked at how many people don’t understand marginal tax rates, and I truly think ignorance of them is used to confuse people about how wages work.
Then to add on top of that people believing it’s illegal to discuss your wages with other employees. Very little opportunity to be corrected.
I’m downvoting myself for my idiotic early-in-the-morning comment. I do know that. The exemption is 12k in Germany.
Now more than ever, I don’t want to pay taxes except at the state level. If Medicare and social security will go the way of the dodo bird, why should I pay? If federal agencies that make this country a civilized country have been dismantled, why the fuck should I pay? If the military and security apparatus gets bigger yet we lose out on government services that actually benefit the people, why the fuck should I pay?
And I’m at the point where I will cut someone who tells me I HAVE to pay my taxes. Because the only thing keeping me from wilding out in real life and even on the internet is the threat of prison time.
Depends on the tax. Progressive income tax? I don’t care so much. Flatter taxes like sales, property, gas, etc, I care about more because it affects the people at the bottom disproportionately. We only need a progressive income tax AND accountability at the top end for people to pay in. Tired of billionaires getting off free with loop holes.
Last year I owed 10k USD. I certainly cared then.
Overall I don’t think about it until I do my taxes. That said, I’d happily pay more if everyone else got healthcare, good infrastructure, and a clean environment.
No (US). Those who loudly complain are generally conservatives who can’t understand how marginal tax rates and brackets work.
(smugly) I won’t take that raise because my tax rate would go up. You’re a sucker if you want to take that raise. You make more money by taking less money.
In Britain we have a pressure group that’s inexplicably on TV every other week pedalling this lie and the one that corporation tax hurts businesses. (Corporation tax is paid on net profits, so businesses only pay if they can afford it).
What’s funny is they’re called the “taxpayers alliance” yet their narrative suggests none of them actually have any experience of paying tax.
If it were being used responsibly I’d advocate for higher taxes, but here in the US taxation is theft.
No , my problem is just about where it got spent
WAR! WAR! WAR!
This is it. If all my needs were met by the state, I’d happily pay 90% tax with 10% on luxuries, which is about what I spend anyhow
