Chris, IMHO you just gave a good reason for every citizen to become more involved and informed about his/her own government to participate in the political process that decides who, what, when, where and how taxes are spent and collected: exercising collective majority influence.
Sometimes, against all odds. Libertarian anarchy would ensue if we could each selected a la carte what we did and did not want to fund: my school vs your school, for instance. We would quickly return to feudal society. Some might like that idea in theory, but I doubt would like it in practice. The alternative is to participate, of course, in the society we've got and that's the challenge. Of course, as the colorful FW debate continues to illustrate, there will always be disagreement in theory and application. - Karen Jan wrote: Why would anyone see paying taxes as a punishment? It is the duty of every citizen to contribute to the common good. Chris wrote: The second phrase is certainly true, but is that really what is accomplished by paying taxes? Considering how badly tax money is being mis-spent (esp. in the US, but also EU), citizens could much better contribute to the common good by spending their money for other things than taxes. E.g. an US peace activist certainly sees it as a punishment that he is being forced to fund wars of attrition. And an EU vegetarian may well see it as a punishment that he must fund animal factories (that gooble up much of the EU budget). Outgoing Mail Scanned by NAV 2002
