31–40 of 111 posts
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> Yes, taxation is necessary for a civilised society. No, it doesn't have to be compulsory I think you may have to explain that to me
The necessity bit, or the not being compulsory bit? No snark intended; I'm unsure whether you're an anarchist asking for a defence of the State, or a Statist asking for a defence of voluntary taxation :)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Yes, taxation is necessary for a civilised society. No, it doesn't have to be compulsory I think you may have to explain that to me
The necessity bit, or the not being compulsory bit? No snark intended; I'm unsure whether you're an anarchist asking for a defence of the State, or a Statist asking for a defence of voluntary taxation :)
Calling the vast majority of people "statist" seems to imply a (false) equivalence between voluntary and compulsorary taxation as competing theories.
Voluntary taxation is a fringe theory with some fairly serious flaws... the primary one in my opinion being that it erodes democracy by pushing even more influence over government into the hands of people with deep enough pockets to pay more (but only when they're happy). The incentives in that kind of system would be all wrong.
By all means have a go at defending voluntary taxation, I'd be interested to hear your opinion.
Still got Google Analytics on the page. I do not feel that reporting every online interaction I have with my government in the UK, back to a huge corporate in the US, is in any way appropriate. But I can't even get anyone to engage on the issue. When I tried to raise it I got directed to a helpdesk ticket on a site run by an SV helpdesk-as-a-service company. I appreciate that gov.uk have done some great stuff getting…
GDS’s GA Premium account contractually prevents Google from investigating the data, and Google self-anonymises with a flag in their API[1]. If you don’t trust them then that’s fine, but for functionality vs cost it seems to be the best option. For what it’s worth, for extremely sensitive projects like GOV.UK Verify other options are fine; Verify uses a local Piwik instance. You’re also welcome to block that specific…
Does it prevent US government from getting this data with a court order?
Still got Google Analytics on the page. I do not feel that reporting every online interaction I have with my government in the UK, back to a huge corporate in the US, is in any way appropriate. But I can't even get anyone to engage on the issue. When I tried to raise it I got directed to a helpdesk ticket on a site run by an SV helpdesk-as-a-service company. I appreciate that gov.uk have done some great stuff getting…
The UK is in Five-Eyes and Google is a US intelligence partner - they would know even without analytics on the site, don't worry.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
GDS’s GA Premium account contractually prevents Google from investigating the data, and Google self-anonymises with a flag in their API[1]. If you don’t trust them then that’s fine, but for functionality vs cost it seems to be the best option. For what it’s worth, for extremely sensitive projects like GOV.UK Verify other options are fine; Verify uses a local Piwik instance. You’re also welcome to block that specific…
GDS’s GA Premium account contractually prevents Google from investigating the data Does it prevent US government from getting this data with a court order?
Even if they could, they wouldn't be able to find it.
"Most people have to pay government money at some point or another"...its sad that this is a given now
Things I've learned not to criticise on HN: socialism, Apple, Steve Jobs, compulsory taxation. Aren't you just forming a mental image of the downvoters right now? ;)
If you haven’t heard of this before there’s a good introduction to the project at https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2015/07/23/making-payments-more-conv...
Linked from that: "Nearly two million adults in the UK do not have a bank account" http://www.bbc.com/news/business-31830117
There is actually a legal requirement for banks to offer no-credit no-fee accounts, in order to help people get into the banking system and take advantage of the associated discounts, but obviously they don't advertise it much.
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Yeah that bit made no sense. But the overall sentiment certainly does.
"That bit"? That was their whole comment! I'm afraid you accused me of 'trotting out a line' when in fact the 'overall sentiment' was implied entirely by yourself. My advice for next time - less pouncing on comments to shoe-horn in some great ideological stance. Specific discussion is better than generic argument in my book. Good day to you :)
If I've misinterpreted you, feel free to correct me.
(Also, +1m Internet Points for your pleasant tone, sir. You are a gentleman and a scholar.)
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sigh ... do we really have to trot out the Somalia straw man every time someone criticises either compulsory taxation or socialism? Yes, taxation is necessary for a civilised society. No, it doesn't have to be compulsory, and no, it doesn't have to fund socialism.
well if we're talking about straw men, I didn't actually say it needed to fund a political ideology of any kind. Or say anything about it being compulsory, though in fact I do think it should be. Moreover, my comment was on the slightly silly notion that 'it's sad this is a thing now' when it has been a thing in Britain since Roman times. Perhaps the original commentator is harking back to the good old days of pre-Ro…
Okay, sorry. I'll stop now.