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Our taxes fund more public health dollars per capita than almost anywhere else in the world. Medicare and Medicaid spending is higher than DOD budget, and that’s before you include medical research funded by NIH and DOD or VA spending.
The issue is that our prices are out of control because of regulatory capture and downstream inability of the government to negotiate lower prices.
What we need are price controls.
I don’t like paying taxes, but holy hell not having the things they’re supposed to pay for sucks. You ever use a toll road or get caught in an intentional speed trap? Holy hell it sucks. And also we’re only kinda sure our food is safe and our medicine works. But the cops have tanks and the beef and gas are subsidized
It's not even a nice military though! Failed audit after failed audit showing billions of dollars not accounted for. When you enlist, one of the trainings you get is how to sign up for WIC, because they don't even pay you enough to feed a family (at first) if you lay down your life. This country is a joke from the outside, and a nightmare to live in.
Notice that taxes don't have the same vile vitrol against them outside of America? They get something for their money.
One of my theories is that not only is it about how these taxes get used (as in the OP), but also in the US you have these constant reminders, it's not added to your restaurant bills or supermarket prices until the end, you have to calculate it yourself all the time and that keeps it front of mind. I never used to even think about tax until I started my own business (since now I don't have to pay it for business expenses). When something costs 100€ it costs 100€, you don't think about the fact 20 of them are tax because you, as a consumer, pay 100 and that's that. Same with salary, it gets taken at the source and once a year you just need to verify, and usually you get some money back making it a positive experience.
A society requires governance. Staff to set and enforce rules, staff and supplies to execute services which provide social and physical infrastructure.
Certain things every community needs: Healthcare, education, transportation, utilities, support services for special needs, safety, rehabilitation for rule breakers, etc.
A government can figure out how to provide these services (with in-house or out-sourced expertise) and provide you with one bill (taxes). Or they can privatize a service, meaning you still need it and they may regulate it, but you'll be paying someone else for that service.
The value of taxes should be considered in this light. How much do I pay for all the services me and my community needs, and what portion of that is taxes. Then compare to other countries to see how well our governance system is functioning.
Does privatization save cost? What balance of regulation keeps things affordable vs driving up expenses? What balance of in-house expertise vs outsourcing is the most functional? What is the cost to quality of life having to pay bills to 15 organizations vs one? Where is there an extra heavy burden of cost and what can we do through regulation to fix it? These are the questions we should be interested in when it comes to governance, an elected official's personality or opinions should be negligible factors.
We also have a constant drumbeat about how taxes are evil coming from politicians and pundits that represent half the political spectrum, all because they've discovered it's a good way to turn people against the other half.
Me here in a third world country, you guys are getting stuff for your taxes.
I would have joked that at least everyone can join the military but they said I was too fat to join back when I was 19 when I was only 25lbs overweight. Isn't it your job to whip my fat ass into shape? What the fuck am I paying you for?!
I've seen how veterans are treated. There's no way I'd join the military even if I didn't find it ethically unacceptable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znfZnSRcaeY
Gave up my girlfriend and my family
traded them in for an M16
Afghanistan Pakistan Yemen Iraq
I don't care if I ever come back
From poor families how far we roam
So the rich kids can just stay at home
When I come home with PTSD
The VA hospital won't care for me
I'll probably end up homeless out in the dark
To get played on screen by Marky Mark
I always find it amusing when Americans can only come up with paying less taxes as the answer, then they don't understand why they get less services. It's almost like you should expect more from the tax dollars you already spend. But I guess that's the point of this post and I'm just beating a dead horse.
To be fair, more taxes is not the immediate answer to America's problems that people think it is. The average American already pays more in taxes than most Europeans. The real issues come from the fact that the US Govt. can not legally produce goods or services (only in very specific circumstances) and has to contract it out to private companies. See roadwork and infrastructure maintenance as one of the most obvious examples. Regional companies exercise an uncontested monopoly on these contracts, causing budgets and schedules to balloon several times past what they would if handled by a service that was directly funded and administered by public office.
Americans already do pay more. The problem is that they get less for their money than any other western nation. While I don't agree with the conclusion, it's not hard to see why so many people watch their country fall into disrepair- despite paying more taxes than ever- and say "to hell with it, I'd rather keep my money than throw it into the corrupt bureaucracy who won't even do anything."
what you’re missing is the fact that most of us pay for healthcare through our employer. Clearly a win, yes? no. no it is not.
For those of us “lucky” americans that did the FUKCING MATH, i pay more in healthcare + taxes when you account for the $12,000 deductibles annually and (AND!!!!) the cost of the privilege for having insurance of anywhere 600-1600 per month. Nevermind the fact the stupid private party insurance gets to decide if “I” am allowed to get a procedure. So i pay for someone else to make a decision that my doctor determines is necessary, which is declined (of course), then appealed (and denied), and now somehow i’m hooked on some fucking opiate because the pain is so great while I wait for Jim at statefarm to approve my necessary procedure. Oh, somewhere in there lets throw in a termination from my employer for showing up high on synthetically prescribed heroin (dilaudid) and now i’ve lost said insurance that i’ve paid 12000 into.
Or I could pay less in taxes by just hoping I will live longer that the conservative (and even some democrats) party dies a horrible death. All without the needed medication and coverage that is keeping me alive… am I winning yet?
So there you have it, those not paying for insurance are winning the war against… fuck, i don’t know anymore, what are we fighting? Right, right, the evils of socialized healthcare and “higher taxes”.
yes, i am ok. no the dilaudid story is true but it is not me, it was someone i knew… guy voted trump until he took care of his own mental issues permanently and fought you all the way.
For future reference:
Have your doctor write the literal phrase "medically necessary" on the order. If denied, contact the insurer and ask for the License Number of the Doctor who refuted the necessity. Keep in mind, if they're NOT a doctor it is ILLEGAL for them to make a medical decision.
If they actually get back to you with a license number, you can use that to pull the credentials of the person denying the claim. Present that information to your doctor and I'm sure they'll help write you up a nice paper to send into the medical review board of the state they're licensed in.
I've had to use this method twice with my wife's healthcare. Approvals came within an hour of requesting the license number of the person on their end making medical decisions. The key being the phrase. A doctor's order, or prescription, is a legal document. Your doc putting that phrase means "I believe in this treatment so much, I'm willing to bet my license that they need it."
YMMV as I've only had to deal with BlueCross and they hate when I call.
nice military
is it? they're never home, so we don't really know
Literally, in that most soldiers at "home" are homeless...in America anyway.
Unfortunately for the post, military is 3rd behind social securities and Medicare.
The issue is far more fundamental than "but ma military spending". And while military spending definitely contributes, the biggest problems are a hugely wasteful medical system and economy that pushes money away from the majority, away from taxes, and up to corporations.
Largely starving the country both in tax revenue, in political capital to make actual positive change, and the literal people as they stop living and start surviving more and more often.
Social security is not a tax though. It's a forced pension system.
We really need to separate that out in people's minds from a tax so that they get more angry when politicians try to make changes to make it pay out less. It's not that they aren't being nice anymore with our taxes, it's theft from our pension we contributed to.
I mean if the 1% paid their share of taxes proportionate to their income we could live in a utopia :)... But nah... That one polical side that should not be named will continue making the poor poorer and pocketing the money for themselves.
That are the reasons why I like paying taxes. Because a functioning society is a great thing.
Americans have accepted this idea. To our detriment. And to the detriment of the underdeveloped world. It's a wicked system. God damn it we're foul.
Isn't the military like 3% of the gdp and Healthcare somewhere around 20% in the US?
Keep in mind, 80% of that is private spending on insurance premiums and out of pocket expenses.
Americans spend a lot on mediocre healthcare because we have to line the pockets of insurance companies and drug companies.
And yet you'll still go into debt forever to pay for your own healthcare.
But at least basically anyone can own a gun, so yay freedom, I guess.
How high are the taxes in Scotland?
Looks like they're lower than The US, for the lower income me brackets, and comparable to the higher brackets
https://www.mygov.scot/income-tax-rates-and-personal-allowances
Far too often, broad generalizations are made about hot button issues like taxes and regulation, calling them "bad" or "good" but it depends on implementation i.e. what is getting taxed, by how much, and where it goes. It would be nice if we had more say in where our taxes go, but unfortunately in the US, both parties are happy to jack up the military budget.