Do you still get mail or go to the library? And do people still get social security payments?
Bottom half of wage earners pay zero effective federal income taxes. The top 10% cover like 90% of it.
All I’m saying is “muh tax dollars” is the wrong argument for the vast majority of us.
If they keep it shut down I suspect individual states will split off as their own nations eventually.
lol that won’t go well
Yes
lol.
Generations of conservative politicians have sold Americans the idea that government can and should be run like a business. That if it were run like a business it would be sunshine and rainbows with low taxes, and high quality services. Many people do genuinely believe this.
It is being run like a business: poorly. Exactly how most businesses run.
With a man at the top making stupid amounts of money at the expense of everyone else.
And when he gets over it, he will sell it off to the next guy and run to a different company and fuck that one up too.
If government were a business, it would refund people’s money when they don’t get the service they paid for
That violates the very first Rule of Acquisition. You clearly don’t have the lobes for business.
Only if there’s a government to force them.
They got their wish.
In the US you should not pay taxes at all. Rebel. Overthrow the fascists. Behead the billionaires and lock up the Epstein clients.
Not sure if this is supposed to snide, sarcastic or serious but… Uhhhh… That’s not how taxes work.
That should absolutely happen. But instead the only consequence seen is for vulnerable people who had zero hand in the decision.
Agreed, but not zero for Trump voters or non-voters.
I can’t disagree
That’s what I’ve been saying. If your utilities were out for a month, you wouldn’t be paying, why should people have to pay for government services they haven’t been getting for over a month
I see you don’t have Gas Service.
Nope, because 76% of the federal budget is mandatory spending.
The government isn’t a subscription service or a company.
I can’t deal with Americans’ ultracapitalist perspective on the res publica. It’s so annoying.
I have this exact feeling when “discussing” this topic with folks that believe a country should be run as a business. It’s so misguided! People are residents, not employees, and they shouldn’t be able to be fired by the country they are living in. This “firing” does seem to be happening in the US right now, tho 👎
You accidentally just explained why it’s incredibly unacceptable for the government to be shut down.
Not accidentally - everyone knows this is stupid it’s just a dumb game congress plays.
I say accidentally because they were making a different point. They’re focused on hating Americans for supposedly only caring about getting a tax refund when the actual point was that there should be consequences for the government fucking its own people so hard
Taxes are a fee for government services. People shouldn’t pat fir services they aren’t getting. They deserve at least a partial refund
But what non-dysfunctional government that doesn’t behave like it is a subscription service shuts down regularly?
This forces OP to asking themselves (albeit somewhat jokingly) this kind of question. Why should they be a proud contributing member of a society when the body receiving these contributions does not properly perform their contribution to society? Is it really only an American who might ask themselves such a question?
But what non-dysfunctional government that doesn’t behave like it is a subscription service shuts down regularly?
A well-functioning government never shuts down, let alone regularly.
That doesn’t mean that the people should forgo their contribution to shared civilization, though.
The current kakistocracy misappropriating funds doesn’t mean that the parts of the government they haven’t ruined doesn’t need tax revenue.
America bad. Sweden perfect. China perfect. Botswana perfect
do you think this post is serious
Given Americans, it wouldn’t surprise me
As an American, while I can’t tell you if this OP is serous, I can tell you there are many here that do feel that way
I’m Canadian and I agree with OP. if any service I was paying for was gone for a month and I was still billed for it, I’d call the company and demand a refund. Of course, I’d have the ability to threaten to cut ties with the company and get service elsewhere. Unfortunately, that isn’t an easy option with government services.
The government isn’t a corporation separate from the people that you contract with. It is the organization OF the people to look after common interests. Ideally, anyway; it just turns out that, like almost any organization, people looking out for their own interests first get attracted to the positions of power.
Backing out of your financial participation means you should lose out of all of its benefits, like roads, schools, firefighters, and subsidized food/whatever prices. Also legal protection of any kind, so it’s the Purge against you, specifically. Have fun!
Yes, people who refuse to pay taxes shouldn’t get the services, but it should work the other way too, if the government refuses to provide services then people shouldn’t have to pay taxes
There’s no legal precedent for this, but I definitely would follow that journey if someone did try to do something like this through proper channels lol.
Define “proper channels” for me.
A free yacht for 6 SCROTUS judges
Too many of y’all have no visible username
Could be a font issue?
Which client if you don’t mind me asking?Connect, cheers
I can see them all, so maybe it’s a federation issue?
Maybe. I’m not a tech wonk so I assumed it was some kind of fad
As long as you’ve been paying your taxes, you can set fed withholdings to $0 until the shutdown is over. Go a couple years without paying, and the Fed has probably set your withholding for you by now.
You’ll still owe income tax, but this stops giving them an interest free loan trump will just blow thru.
Ideally I’d like to see blue states coordinate it for their citizens, just so it’s all sitting in a big find that the state can use as a carrot to reopen the fed.
Sounds like a great way to be charged a lot in underpayment penalties
Oh, it sounds like it?
Did you think of checking yourself before just fucking guessing someone was wrong and making a comment?
Like, imagine hearing someone say something on the Internet, and not being sure if they’re right…
So you just fucking guess in a comment and wait four fucking hours to see if the original person will reply back.
Instead of you taking the two seconds to check before making that comment.
What the fuck is wrong with people?
Just willfully and proudly ignorant.
Yeahhh you’ll get slapped with penalties for this though.
iirc you could pay your taxes once a quarter but longer than that and there are fines.
No…
That’s why I said what I said…
Thanks for taking the time to make a reply telling everyone your guess instead of, i dunno…
You taking two second to check yourself?
Yes you should pay 39 days in taxes less, steal yourself the money used to build roads, schools and stuff like that, that will really show them !
Psh, we don’t do anything but kill brown people with that money, well, and pay for Trump to golf.
You know its not true, all you degens want is save money and conceal it in a good package
The fuck does that even mean? I’d like my taxes to pay for healthcare and education, at yeah food and housing for folks that need. I don’t mind spending my money or my time on worthwhile things.
Border control is horseshit, the war on drugs was lost before it even started, and bailing out companies that made bad, selfish decisions is stupid and benefits me not at all. Blowing up other countries, likewise, does not a goddamn thing for me.
A government isn’t supposed to save money, it’s supposed to spend it, but it should be spent well, in ways that benefit the people it serves. I’m not a tankie, but I ain’t no shitlib centrist either.
xfinity would just up the monthly subscription, or try to force you to a more expensive tier.
