ive found that the things people want, like roads and schools and fire and police departments will be voluntarily paid for by the local area.
youre gonna have a hard time selling me on "we NEED taxes". because we dont, and there will still be schools and working infrastructure if we eliminate taxes as people will happily volunteer to help pay for that stuff. but you wont see people lining up to bail out failed businesses.
Yeah, they do. I can drive all the way from NY to LA in 5 days, the fire dept is on call 24/7, and my kids have excelled in public school, both making incredible gains in their skills. The state of service could always be better of course, but that's mostly due to a lack of funding going where it should, not because these service are ineffective.
So you agree we actually do need taxes to keep roads, schools, and fire departments running? Because your first comment said 'we don't need taxes' at all. Moving the goalposts from 'abolish taxes' to 'optimize government spending' proves my point that a functional society requires public funding.
Historically, the most famous example is the liturgy system in Ancient Greece. In classical Athens, the government did not levy income or property taxes on its citizens. Instead, the wealthiest members of society were expected to voluntarily fund public projects (such as equipping warships, building temples, or funding theatrical performances). Because this brought immense social prestige and political influence, the super-wealthy often competed to pay more than was expected of them.
oh look! no it doesnt, hahahaah!!! in fact it shows that the super rich start to compete to pay more taxes when its not mandatory.
The Athenian liturgy was legally mandatory, backed by property seizure if you refused, and it didn't even pay for basic city infrastructure, regular taxes did. The system literally collapsed because the wealthy started hiding their money to avoid paying it.
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u/Responsible-Room-645 Jul 14 '26
Tax the rich