Why, in the land of the free, do I have to pay Uncle Sam?

Question

So I can live in MY house, drive MY car, work my MY butt off so I can buy food and clothes that he gets a cut of too, pay for a war I don't approve of, pay hospital and medical bills for people I don't even know, furnish housing for people from God knows where, while my own people sleep in cardboard boxes in alleys? Can someone give me a feasible amswer that I can accept and understand?

Hey, Cal, It was Bush pushing for amnesty for illegal aliens. Last I heard Bush was Republican. When did he change?

Sorry to disalusion you edg but I own my home and no one bought it for me. I have a job and I do pay my taxes. I own the car I drive and at present am debt free without ever collecting one cent of wefare benefits!. Can you say that?

Redisca, Believe it or not, I have read a few books in my life and not just the cheap paper back thriller. I've had 4 years of college and I have worked for everything I have without any free rides.

Thank you all for the answers you submitted to my question. Except for a few who accused me of being ignorant or a lazy lay-about living off the government, I thought the answers were well thought out even though I may not agree with you. I don't understand why people have to be so insulting at times to people they know nothing about. Maybe that should be my next question.

Answer 1

fools. If you think that our taxes go to roads and the police you are sadly mistaken. If that was the case we could have Ivory for white lines, and gold for the yellow lines on all roads. roads are paid for by the sate, not the federal gov. which is why some states have much better roads than others. The taxes for a state is not what hurts your paycheck, it is the federal that takes the big chunk out. Yes I am sure some goes to the military, or shall I say the presidents personal game. But I offer up this, if our money goes towards the military, shouldn't we the people have more say as to what our military does? Really, I support our troops wherever they are, but that does not mean I support the decision of where and what they do. See a few hundred years ago, we, as a nation fought our suppressors because of taxes, then we as a nation created our Constitution. You know what was great about that? That our forefathers knew enough that first in time the constitution would need to change, but also, so would our government, and the people had the power to do that, change it. (READ THE CONSTITUTION, IT CLEARLY STATES THIS) For those that are against the "illegal" immigrants, take a look at the giant statue that welcomes everyone to our nation (the statue of Liberty), she has a little massage that we as Americans are supposed to believe in. No I don't think anyone should sneak in here, but I don't think they should be rejected. There are many things that we need to change as a nation, first is our own mindset. We need to care more, and love more, we need to treat everyone around us better. The reason taxes are so high, is that we have no good solutions as to what to do with them. To answer your question, Taxes aren't a bad thing, if they were simply just everyone pitching in for the betterment of our country, but they are not, they are miss spent and that we need to change. The idea is right, and wouldn't you feel better about a % of your earned money going towards the great nation where you live if you knew and saw a return on it. I know I would. and if our government could wise up and budget and use our taxes correctly, then we wouldnt have such higfh taxes (they are only high, because we use the same companies for gov projects (ie Halibuton) that charge us ridiculous prices, (the cliche $400 for a hammer) and that we dont spend or use them efficiently. The best part of it all is that we have the power to change it. but not by complaining to the Pres (he is just a puppet, working for the rich entrepenuers of the nation), but by forming groups of people and starting at the bottom, with your local community/mayor and move up from there. OUr systemn is created as a pipeline it starts small but the higher you go the more impact you have. trust me when I say, if everyone got their communities together for a cause, at the same time, things would change. Your state Gov/snenator would have to listen, and guess who is in congress, those people. They would not dare go against the populatiuon, and if they did, you now have made a statement, so you dont re-elect them, you elect somoeone who will represent the people.

Answer 2

I believe the "land of the free" refers to more abstract freedoms such as "freedom of speech" not "live without paying".

Questions that will hopefully drive you to think deeper about your question:
- Would roads be built if we didn't pay taxes to support the creation of them? Likely we'd only have toll roads and they would only go between places of profit.
- You have an education, right? Unless you were solely educated at home, did your family hire each teacher that taught you? I'm guessing that the cost for 1 on 1 teaching is pretty expensive and your parents are still paying that off.
- At some point in your family tree do you think it was possible that a person received some form of government aid to cover medical cost? Ever have an older relative in a care facility that was required to provide for them, even if they had no money left from their retirement or any other financial savings?

As for the war, there will be many government decisions that are/aren't supported by the entire country. I'm sure there are some people that feel there can be positive outcomes to the war while others feel it was an unnecessary event. I doubt we'll ever truly know 100% of the details and we won't be able to definitively say what side is right/wrong. Funding certainly is a big question, but what about funding that built the weapons and trained the soldiers in the first place? Do you support that? An individual wouldn't be able to provide cost effective defense so it all comes from taxes.

Answer 3

The answer to you question is yes. You may disagree with many things that our government does but you should look at the whole picture.

Someone has said that taxes are the price that we pay for civilization. If it were not for taxes you would have an unsafe car, your house might be falling in due to shoddy construction, you probably would not have access to the Internet, there would be no highways to drive on with your car if you had one, you probably would not be able to write since taxes pay for education, Your home would not be secure if there were no police, your house might burn down because there would be no fire department, you could not even use your own hose to put out the fires because you could not turn on the water.

Do not think only about the negative, look at the positive side too.

Answer 4

There are books written on this and related topics. Good philosophical point.

I think the key to understanding why we have to pay taxes but don't get to choose exactly how it's spent is to understand that we are a large nation and nothings for free. Government, in theory, exists to handle the things that are needed to make sure the country works as a whole. This means an armed federal militia to protect our country from invasion and attacks as well as to protect our national interests. Also means creating and maintaining a massive highway system, establishing rules of law governing interstate commerce.

No doubt in my mind that the government has gotten a bit drunk on its own power over the last 200 years. The higher we tax our citizens and the more 'services' we provide, the weaker our country becomes.

Too many laws and regulations keep us from becoming or maintaining our competitive edge - this is why so many jobs have left our country. Too few laws and regulations and the workplace becomes unsafe for our citizens.

The trick to any country or any personal life is figuring out a good balance - tough to do and always evolving.

So, why does the US go to Iraq? Because the government believes our national interests are at stake, in particular our safety.

Why do some citizens live in the streets? Well, the government and charitable groups try to address that too. But no matter what we do, there will always be people who make poor choices and refuse a helping hand.

Personally, I don't think the government's role is to make sure that everybody has all their needs met, but our country does have a framework that enables people to make their own lives work. The amount of freedom we have in this country is incredible and creates opportunity for the individual willing to make the effort.

When we rush in too soon to give a helping hand to people in distress, our intentions are good, but often it destroys their motivation to better themselves. No easy answer though - some people are really unable to provide for themselves, such as my quadriplegic son.

In the bottom line - if we all got to choose whether or not our taxes supported just the programs we approved of, we would not have a country any more. We'd have anarchy. Everything would fall apart.

Some people have told me that if we left THEM alone (meaning the extremist Islamic terrorists), they'd leave us alone. I think such people are pretty naive. I mean, we left them alone for 20+ years, basically ignoring attack after attack on our servicemen, embassies, and even the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. All that did was embolden them. If we left Iraq now in defeat, they would be emboldened beyond belief.

Even now, they are testing the waters to see what their people can get away with here. We keep hearing news reports of school busses where people who don't belong on the bus get on. And people getting on airplanes with packages of wires and harmless clay. Or imams getting on planes and making a big deal out of praying loudly and being a distraction. Once they figure out they won't get caught, or we'll put up with it, or don't have the will to stop this nonsense, they will be getting on airplanes with plastic explosives. They'll be getting on schoolbusses with real bombs. They will enter planes with the intent and means to bring them down.

I don't think it is a matter of IF they will do this... it is merely a matter of WHEN. Tomorrow, next week, 3 months away? I don't know. But I believe it will come soon.

The extremist Islamics have unfortunately gained a large foothold and have twisted the religion. They have a lot of influence by intimidation from within. Whether we want to be at war or not, they are at war with us. We can not reason with them. We can not appease them. If we ignore them, they will not go away. They will not stop until we are all dead. It doesn't matter how reasonable and understanding we are. Their philosophy is that we must submit or die.

I don't think it matters if an individual is liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican. I think we all basically want the same thing.... to live in peace and pursue our own measure of happiness and fulfillment. The ongoing controversy is how to make this happen. Different folks have different opinions on how to achieve peace and prosperity and freedom.

What I don't understand is why the politicians are busy playing politics and acting as if we live in a pre-9/11 world.

There... off my soapbox.

Good luck.

Answer 5

There is always a price to pay for anything of worth (not just in the monetary sense as we pay not only for "objects" but sacrifice ourselves each and everyday for family, friends and work for the kind of lifestyle we want) at least in this country we have that option...however this freedom of choice comes with a price, taxes are really your own personal way of contributing to keeping the system running...we all know its not perfect, but what actually is?
trust me I know, my early years were spent living under a communist regime..in an oppressed society your choices are limited, the government controls everything you do and say; ration of food for the month, how long your power will stay on, if you are lucky enough to have a vehicle it will most likely be from the the sixties so parts are almost impossible to get, the structure of your housing has not been maintained since that time because building materials are not readily available, medications are difficult to find, hospitals are insanitary and you have to bring with you your own bed pan, sheets and bucket to bathe with (they call it socialized medicine) not to mention the majority of your earnings (even tips) are taken away so that the tyrant you did "not" elect puts your money in a Swiss Bank somewhere for his own benefit! (this posting would have gotten you shot!)

everyone living in this country was at one point or another somewhat of an illegal alien (unless of course you are an American Indian) (and look what we did to them!)..this country was founded by immigrants...the fact that we continue to have immigrants here is something that one should not be bothered with, the allotment that is contributed by the government to pay for services associated with their expenses is nothing compared to the amount of money we dish out to pay for political type expenses (governmental official salaries, etc.,)...

It is unfortunate but some people choose to this lifestyle (live in cardboard boxes)..there are more than enough programs in this country (at the city and state levels) that help the needy and support individuals living below the poverty line...like everything else in life individuals must take the 1st step and get informed about what is out there..granted I realize that some of these people have educational and mental health challenges but that is another issue all together and has nothing to do with your topic...

the simple answer to your question is, if you had to pay for all the services that are encompassed now in the taxes you are currently contributing, you would not be able to afford payment of these services on a individual basis..so paying taxes (according to the standard tax tables) is not only necessary but in the long run cheaper...

This to me is the greatest country in the world. with the most abundant amount of opportunities anywhere..I am thankful not only to be a part of it, but to be a contributing factor of that fact...

(take it easy, I know sometimes it seems we have to pay, pay, pay all the time..just be thankful for what you have, the world has so many issues (saving our Planet should be #1), this issue is really a trivial one)

Answer 6

Taxes are a part of life in any country, if you don't want to pay them make your own. Secede from the Union. Nobody is forcing you to be a member of this country. The US is willing to tolerate micro-nations who's residents don't pay taxes but also do not enjoy the benefits of being a US citizen. If you don't want to be told to work, find another job or don't have one at all. You have choices, now consider the consequences.

Answer 7

You forgot to mention that you can't pee in Times Square, **** a four-year old, or kill someone you don't like. What a nightmare!

Liberty is a legal concept, and it doesn't mean doing whatever your want to do whenever you want to do it to whomever you want it done. Political and legal liberty means that you will not be deprived of life, physical liberty, or property *without due process of law*; and that certain FUNDAMENTAL rights (e.g. the right to vote) will not be abridged UNLESS the government can do it by narrowly tailored means geared towards a compelling public objective.

Tell you what. If you really want an exhaustive answer to your question, why don't you read a book on Constitutional law. YOU study the law, and THEN vent. And by "book", I don't mean a deranged two-bit bestseller, but a basic, honest-to-goodness textbook.

Perhaps then you'll be less confused.

EDITED TO LK: Be that as it may, you don't seem to be very well (or at all) informed on the concept of Constitutional liberty. Graduating from college and working for a living is commendable, but it certainly doesn't mean you shouldn't educate yourself on the issues you so apparently find important; nor does having a piece of paper from a university automatically make you knowledgeable. And so I stand by my advice: stop by the bookstore of a local law school and buy yourself a ConLaw textbook.

Answer 8

The term "Land of the Free" refers to the freedoms we all enjoy. All of the things you take for granted were paid for by your taxes and fought by soliders fighting for things you don't approve of. All the soliders past and present have fought for your freedom of speech, and give you the platform you have today to whine about this stuff.

We as Americans are a Superpower and with that power comes great reponsibility to try to help out people throughout the world. If you don't like it here, try living in one of these third world nations....

Answer 9

Vote for a DEM== an see what you have to pay for then>They want amnesty for ALL the illegals>And it's freedom of speech & freedom to be able to travel across the states>The only things free cost to get rid of like the illegals>

Answer 10

I don't know if this response will satisfy your question, but here goes:

It is the law that you pay your "fair share" of taxes to your country. If you avoid or refuse to pay, you will be subject to criminal prosecution. However, if you were an illegal alien, you could avoid paying for absolutely anything at all, and if charges are brought against you, you can hide in a church for a year until your ego gets the best of you.