Why is giving tax dollars to taxpayers called socialism?

Question

While giving tax dollars to greedy corporate whores is not?

Excuse me, but how does giving billions of tax dollars to well-connected private contractors help anyone but the greedy owners and the corrupt politicians who serve them?

Answer 1

Higher taxes to people who make money in order to redistribute wealth is socialism as jdkilp said.

The problem is that conservative assume that corporations will put this money to good use. That the money will trickle down to the average joe in the form of a raise or benefits. The reality though is that it doesn't. Not only does money NOT trickle down, jobs get outsourced to foreign countries where goods can be produced at a much lower cost. Mind you, these corporations who outsource jobs still get tax breaks!

Another assumption is that if corporations get taxed less, the price of their product falls. Again, this is completely untrue. Corporations are in no way obligated to lower costs and therefore just reap profits.

Another problem is that people assume that companies who earn a lot of money work hard for it and deserve to keep a lot from it. Which I think is laughable.

For these last two points, just look at Microsoft. Do they keep their prices down? No. They have very expensive software. Do they work hard for than money and earn it in an honest way? No. They almost always have an antitrust lawsuit against them, they set their prices arbitrarily high. They are in and out of courtrooms every day. They employ shady business practices (look up OOXML and vote rigging that's going on right now).

Same deal with oil companies. If oil prices are high, it's because they are arbitrarily set that high. Do you think oil executives that earn billions "work hard" for that money? Absolutely not.

This is why corporations should not have tax breaks.

Answer 2

Let me try to explain.

The only way to get money to give to taxpayers directly is through taxation. That means we are taking someone's money and giving it to someone else in pursuit of some societal goal. This is socialism.

The most common way we "give" tax money to corporations is either:

1. To purchase goods or services, or
2. To lower taxes.

Let's take these in order. If we are purchasing goods or services then we aren't "giving" money to the corporation we are exchanging it for something of value. You can make the argument that the government pays more than value it receives but that just makes government a lousy consumer - a frequent and nonpartisan complaint. In no way does that equal the income redistribution implied in the taxpayer receiving tax money referenced in the question.

The second item is a result of Washington jargon. It seems as though tax reductions, which are actually reductions in the revenue of the government are often termed "costs" thus creating the concept that a tax reduction results in someone getting tax money. This is obviously wrong as the money only changes hands when the entity taxed gives it to the government. It is not the case that a tax reduction results in the government giving it back to the entity. It just never takes it in the first place.

So,

Income redistribution plans are socialist policies.

Government/corporate partnerships may be either prudent purchasing or more fascistic in nature.

Tax reductions are blatantly capitalist.

I hope this clarifies the options.

Please note that none of these requires the elimination of democracy to be in place. All can be pursued under a democratic government.

Answer 3

Let me explain this in a way you can understand. Someone who makes $200,000 per year will pay about $70,000 in federal taxes. Someone who makes say $20,000 per year basically pays NO federal tax. Taking money from the person who worked hard for the $200,000 and giving it to someone who pays no tax is indeed socialism - redistribution of wealth.

Corporations create products and services that all Americans buy. Let's say a corporation makes $1 billion dollars. They will pay about $350 million in taxes. But, there are programs available (tax breaks) that allow them to reduce this tax. Keeping their taxes low allows them to sell products at lower prices, making things more affordable for Americans.

I personally think we should eliminate all taxes on corporations who keep jobs in the US. Would help make US companies more competitive with foreign companies, and keep prices down.

It might help if you took a course in basic economics.

Answer 4

Because the neo-cons have to make all the good things sound "demonic" so all the other buybull banging idiots think it's a bad thing. After all they have the attention span of a two year old. "How dare you give something to a fellow citizen!"

Or maybe it's the old Reagan (Trickle down) remember how good that worked.......neither do I.

Answer 5

The rich Republicans use this term in a DEROGATORY WAY SO AS TO MAKE THE TERM 'SOCIALISM' SEEM TERRIBLE, THAT WAY THEY CAN KEEP CUTTING THEIR OWN TAXES AND POCKET THE MONEY THEMSELVES.

Yet they are all in favor of "corporate welfare", because they get all that money back in stock dividends.

And some people actually fall for it !

Answer 6

cons can't think up a genuine argument, so they resort to name-calling