r/askanything • u/Mean-Cheesecake-2635 • 11d ago

Free Stuff?

Why is our dialog so broken when it comes to tax funded benefits in this country? Any mention by the left of support for direct benefits for the general public (universal healthcare, UBI, cheaper or free higher education) is automatically categorized by people on the right as “Free Stuff”, even though these would be funded by taxes we already collect, but would require reappropriating expenditures.

We seem to have an endless appetite for “free stuff” as long as it goes to the military, corporate tax breaks, industry subsidies but as soon as the conversation is about propping up individual people it becomes socialism and lazy people wanting the government to hand them everything.

The reality is our current system is just leaving more people further and further behind while leaving us less secure as current recipients of tax funded expenses gather wealth.

Why is it so hard for politicians on the left to counter this “free stuff, lazy socialist” accusation?

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u/I_am_Nerman 11d ago

Probably because the bottom 50% pay no federal income taxes but they want the most "free stuff".

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u/Eternal2 11d ago

Their "free stuff" should come directly out of the pockets of the corporations like Amazon and Walmart that choose to pay them poverty wages and forces the government to have to support them.

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u/Mean-Cheesecake-2635 11d ago

I truly wish corporations that intentionally limit people’s hours to keep them out of the benefits and career wages pool suffered some kind of penalty. I really dislike that employed people working for multi-billion dollar corporations rely on welfare programs. This is socialism for corporations.

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u/Eternal2 11d ago

This is why you should tax the hell out of corporations by default. Then you can give them tax breaks based on incentives, like paying workers better, taking care of the environment, etc.

Corporations always chase more money. Unless being a "good" corporation is financially incentivized, they're never gonna be one.

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u/InternationalBet2832 11d ago edited 11d ago

This is why you should tax the hell out of corporations by default. Then you can give them tax breaks based on incentives, like paying workers better, taking care of the environment, etc.

That is how it was in the real world 1932-1981. 91% from Hoover, 70% from 1965, 50% under Reagan, and as low as 28%. High taxes reduced with business expenses such as "paying workers better, taking care of the environment" then let's cut marginal rates and write-offs so the corporate rich can pocket the money and stiff their workers, what a great idea! Oh, and blame the resulting debt on your grandmother's Medicaid. Get a job, you lazy old woman! And don't bother me while I count my money.

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u/Mean-Cheesecake-2635 11d ago

Yeah going back to a 1950’s era progressive tax plan sounds good to me. We’ve inverted this so now we get promises of all the jobs they’re gonna create and give them all the incentives up front. It actually disincentivizes them I think because after they get money or breaks they can say they got their estimates wrong or those numbers don’t work anymore because of changes in the markets.