moneyFYI
Financial Freedom Is Merely Organized Common Sense
Taxation and Fairness
All taxes are fair and all taxes are unfair.
What matters is what happens to the money. If poorly spent, people’s attitude to taxes takes over.
It is a matter of perspective. If I pay, they are unfair. I had better uses for the money.
If you pay, probably I am okay with it.
Taxes have become too political.
I have mentioned before that polarization works in favor of politicians. Rich and poor is a good one. Envy is powerful and there are far more people who pay nothing than you might expect.
Recent data tells us that in the United States 45% of the people pay no income tax. Will they care about taxes rising. They might care about lowering them because that could imperil their benefits.
Fertile ground for political games.
Taxes are how we pay for society
Who pays and how much should be simpler than it is. If there were no incentives to spend the people’s money, taxes would be much lower. At some lower tax level people, would pay much less attention to the whole thing.
They might even see an advantage to earning more by working harder. That attitude is what makes countries great.
No government and no tax system has ever done much to add value.
The best governments provide a way for people to flourish. They don’t minimize the chances of success.
How did we get here?
We can blame politicians for being hypocrites and sometimes corrupt. We can blame bureaucrats for mindless rules and near infinite delays. We can blame NGOs and interest groups for silly interventions that ignore the common good.
Trying to satisfy everyone is a losing game. Politicians are forced to play it because we demand more.
The people are to blame too, but no politician can say so.
Sometime, maybe soon, the system will change to be effective and efficient. There is only one way to go from here.
Question.
Who will make the first move, the people or the governments?
Don Shaughnessy arranges life insurance for people who understand the value of a life insured estate. He can be reached at The Protectors Group, a large insurance, employee benefits, and investment agency in Peterborough, Ontario.
In previous careers, he has been a partner in a large international public accounting firm, CEO of a software start-up, a partner in an energy management system importer, and briefly in the restaurant business.
Please be in touch if I can help you. don@moneyfyi.com 866-285-7772
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