Current Events — HabitableZone

Current Events » in reply to Ah statistics, my favorite

And I don't think you quite get the numbers.
TB — (archived)

That chart in figure 2 is in constant dollars, adjusted for inflation. We fought WWII with a per-capita tax rate less than a third of the current one. Is the increase in the standard of living since 1904 justification for a tax burden that is almost thirty times as great?

You are welcome to look at the tax numbers, and decide if the decrease in poverty since 1904 is a factor of thirty.

The poverty rate in the late 1950s was about 22 percent. In recent years, it's been around 12 percent. Meanwhile, the tax rates have tripled. In constant dollars.

Maybe, just maybe, the government discovered that you can do more with taxes than just fulfill the proper functions of government. You can buy power with them, and since the thirties, the objective has been to create a mass of captive voters dependent on the state for their every need. The simple answer is that the government spends a lot of money on things the government shouldn't be spending money on. And that's why we're taxed at the levels we are.

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