Earlier quoted context omitted.
On a side note, is there any system that exists where citizen can decide to a greater autonomy how there tax money is spent?
Libertarianism. I hear they are testing it out in Oregon. /s
Japan's Hometown Tax
201–210 of 260 posts
Re: Japan's Hometown Tax
#202Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not saying we need to dissolve the federal government, I'm saying that if a lot of the stuff currently done by the executive branch (the alphabet soup of federal agencies) was done by the states there's really wouldn't be much of a difference from the individual liberty point of view.
I strongly disagree. In some states that would be the case. In others, there would be enormous regression.
Re: Japan's Hometown Tax
#203Earlier quoted context omitted.
I strongly disagree. In some states that would be the case. In others, there would be enormous regression.
So why not let those states use their freedom to sink their own ship. If they do really have it wrong and you do really have it right then that will show and they'll come around in the long term.
This is been tried already, and it didn’t work. What changed things was force, first military, then legal.
Re: Japan's Hometown Tax
#204Re: Japan's Hometown Tax
#205Earlier quoted context omitted.
I thought that the current consensus was that races don't really exist. "Modern" racism can be more subtle than that, more about xenophobia or just classism.
Depends whether you’re talking about the consensus among critical race theorists or population geneticists. The latter have no problem with dividing different people into groups based on ancestry based on what continent their ancestor came from though the word race is passé. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancestry-informative_marker
Re: Japan's Hometown Tax
#206I LOVE this idea! Here in the US, it could really help out rural communities. The best part is that it is 'free' to everyone; you've already paid the taxes. Small communities could, and do, organize festivals based on local culture: Trout fishing in the summer, Ice festivals in the winter, Duck races in the spring, etc. They get people interested in some aspect of the community, be it a festival, music, the climate,…
Did you read the entire article? It's not really 'free to everyone', it's not like it's magic money. It's more like a transfer of tax revenue from Tokyo to rural communities, with a bit of a kickback to the tax payers. And while your vision sounds nice, the end of the article made it sound more like it's become a race to the bottom with most rural towns offering the maximum amount allowed in gift vouchers which peopl…
Re: Japan's Hometown Tax
#207I LOVE this idea! Here in the US, it could really help out rural communities. The best part is that it is 'free' to everyone; you've already paid the taxes. Small communities could, and do, organize festivals based on local culture: Trout fishing in the summer, Ice festivals in the winter, Duck races in the spring, etc. They get people interested in some aspect of the community, be it a festival, music, the climate,…
Did you read the entire article? It's not really 'free to everyone', it's not like it's magic money. It's more like a transfer of tax revenue from Tokyo to rural communities, with a bit of a kickback to the tax payers. And while your vision sounds nice, the end of the article made it sound more like it's become a race to the bottom with most rural towns offering the maximum amount allowed in gift vouchers which peopl…
Re: Japan's Hometown Tax
#208Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think you’re underestimating just how useful those weak protections still are. The increase in freedoms over the past ~50 years has been gigantic, and a huge part of that came from federal intervention. The state I live in would almost certainly still have segregation and still outlaw my marriage, for example. Consider all the crazy shit that certain states have started doing since the Supreme Court struck down the…
I'm not saying we need to dissolve the federal government, I'm saying that if a lot of the stuff currently done by the executive branch (the alphabet soup of federal agencies) was done by the states there's really wouldn't be much of a difference from the individual liberty point of view.
Re: Japan's Hometown Tax
#209Earlier quoted context omitted.
So why not let those states use their freedom to sink their own ship. If they do really have it wrong and you do really have it right then that will show and they'll come around in the long term.
Because human rights are important and oppression is bad. States aren’t monolithic entities. This isn’t a case where people suffer the consequences of their own choices. It’s a case where some people suffer the consequences of other people’s choices. You’re proposing to allow millions to suffer indefinitely, hoping that those who rule them will eventually change their mind. This is been tried already, and it didn’t w…
There's a huge culture problem in the US.
Re: Japan's Hometown Tax
#210Earlier quoted context omitted.
For US income taxes the only amount of your taxes that you can direct is $3 for the presidential election fund. Why not expand this and let you pick from a dozen or so categories?
So people educated with public funds but without kids will allocate 0$ to education, then complain that youths these days just hang in the street doing no good, and allocate more of their tax towards policing?