Are taxes good or bad?

Question

For a school project I have to write a pursuasive essay about my views on taxes. It would really benefit me if I could get a few oppinions because I really am no tax expert. If you decide to help thanks!

Answer 1

Good and bad - depending on the use. The inherent negative in taxes is that they are at least third party transactions. A provider / consumer transaction is direct. A provider / government / consumer adds expense and overhead and profits thereby increasing the the cost of the good or service being provided.

But there are many items such as defense, roads, and catastrophic health care that can not be purchased directly. For these the efficiencies of pooling for a common good reduce the costs. Insurance compamies do this as well as government.

The question then is what is better provided by any such third party arrangment. And who that third party should be.

For national defense the federal government is the proper third party. No city or state or insurance company can fill the need. For garbage collection the city or county MAYBE the proper party. Can you imagine the federal government in charge of gababe pick ups? But maybe a private company provides the service more economically than having the local level government inserted in the middle.

One problem with government involvement (that is taxes) is that to any function requires management (that is beauracracy). And beauracracies tend to become entrenched and grow, getting fat and lazy. A capitalistic business (beauracracy) keeps lean and trim or loses and dies. A government beauracracy just keeps on and on and on.

SECOND PROBLEM - Government programs are often to address sociatal problems. Taxes and government are unavoidable and even accomplish some good. IF they should ever actually succeed in eliminating the problem they deal with tho they eliminate the need for themselves - and their jobs and their power. No wonder the the very things we turn to government to solve are guaranteed to remain unsolved.

Answer 2

I'm no tax expert. However, I think that taxes are good. This is because a majority of people expect the government to run smoothly and to take care of them when they are old. The government needs funds in order to take care of the old and poor.

Plus, in order to run the country smoothly, the government needs money. The easiest way for the government to get money is to tax people. This is because if the government requested citizens to donate funds to help it run smoothly, majority of people would not donate because human nature is selfish.

Actually, the government is a form of business and every business needs some cashflow in order to survive and succeed. Taxation, is the privilege you pay the government for being a citizen of it's country. However, if you are a citizen in oil rich countries like United Arab Emirates or Kuwait, you wouldn't be paying taxes; their citizens don't pay taxes, their governments are too wealthy and don't need taxes from their citizens in order to run.

Now, I'll sell you the rights to my Intellectual Property....LOL. Just kidding, feel free to use some of the ideas...

Answer 3

Taxes are a good thing, as they pay for so many things, like your parks, schools, and police. Many people will say that the way the US tax system is structured is bad. It seems to make the rich people get more rich, while poor people get poorer. Google it.

Answer 4

Taxes are good. It's the government that needs to be fixed. It only gets larger and requires more funds thus an increase to taxes. If government was more efficient than it would require less taxes.

Answer 5

think of the government (federal, state, county, local...) as a business.
they have many expenses -- fire department, police, hospitals, road repairs, welfare, garbage collection, traffic, military, schools, etc etc etc
they also strive to 'make a profit' and their main source of revenue is through taxation.
unfortunately, there are many many kinds of taxes -- income, sales, excise, gasoline, etc etc.
so the government(s) needs taxes to raise money to pay for the services in our society.

so think of all the services we get in society -- NONE of those would be available if there were no taxes.

good luck with the essay.

Answer 6

Taxes are necessary but applied incorrectly.
Income tax is a waste because it doesn't get money from anyone that is working for cash.
If they were to up the sales tax but get rid of the income tax. EVERYONE would be forced to pay their fair share.

Answer 7

Well, just list some of the things that are paid for via taxes.

Schools
Roads
Police
Fire Department
Health Care for the Elderly & Poor
National Defense
Disaster Relief
Aviation Safety
Highway Safety

OK, that's got you started. Take it from there.

Answer 8

Bad, unless you enjoy your cities' infrastructure, schools, clean air, clean water, police and fire protection, a strong military, parks, libraries, social services, etc. etc. etc.