Why do we pay 4 governments?

Question

We pay City, County, State, and Federal taxes. Don't forget Sales taxes that are passed on from one layer to the next. Do you ever add it all up? Don't we pay over half? Why do the Democrats want more?

Matt: there is plenty of cash. I worked for the County, and everyone is skating by waiting for their pension. It's a bunch of rhetoric.

Answer 1

We should not expect to have the world's highest standard of living while we pay hundreds of billions of dollars to be the world's policeman. We have more than 700 military bases around the world. President Bush is the first president to get congress to cut income taxes while we fight a new war. Over 25% of non social security spending by the Federal Government comes from borrowed money. We are borrowing from the Chinese, the Japanese and most of all from the Social Security Trust Fund, every penny of which comes from FICA taxes on worker's earnings that are earmarked for their retirement; and the government has no plan in place to pay it back when it is needed to pay benefits. Interest on the National Debt is running over 100 billion dollars per year. -

Both parties buy our votes with borrowed money. (Money is borrowed, and then spent in ways that make the voters happy.)

But Republicans are the worst offenders when it comes to borrowing and spending. - Democrats recognize that we must make the tax system more progressive, if we don't want to bankrupt the government. So if you think paying over half is bad now, consider what life will be like when the national credit card is maxed, and all of the income taxes collected are necessary just to pay interest on the national debt. How long do you think you could remain solvent, if year after year you spent all of your income plus 25%?

Answer 2

We pay too much. If governments would get business out of taking profits off of government work, (privitization) things could be run much more cheaply. We need Public Schools, Roads, Sewage Systems, Social Security for those who are too injured to work, etc... But both parties have refused to make the government run more efficiently, but still run. One says it will destroy the government, the other says it will make it bigger! It's a bad state indeed. We need courage and real leadership... maybe even a new party.

Answer 3

Because that's how governments work. The government can't just print money for itself, that would cause astronomical inflation

Answer 4

When American soldiers regularly go to war without body armor, when almost 50 million Americans are without health insurance, and when veterans are treated like animals, something is not right. If it means we need higher taxes to set it right, so be it. I would welcome them.
But, I believe that if we rearranged our budget and cut unnecessary funding to certain bureaucracies, we could provide for Americans properly without raising taxes.