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Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: taxes don't steal from people, people steal from people
« on: Today at 02:08:54 PM »Yes, businesses want profit.https://www.chinadailyhk.com/hk/article/329291
You're the asshole who doesn't want to give it to them.
Or did you forget that even Mao eventually conceded "greed is good," and allowed a capitalist-like economic system even though the government is ostensibly communist. We went to China in 2005. We noticed the US was more economically socialist than China, which had little to no regulations against street corner businesses. US? To sell something, you often need to get a permit.
Yeah... they banned them. Because they were so unregulated they were disgusting. Now they're back (as of 2023) and regulated.
I'm guessing you're just making shit up because given how POOR you are what with having failed your family diner, I'm pretty sure you couldn't fly from Virgina to China, let alone vacation there.
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But yes, you say it "didn't work." So I guess you're right.Please see the definition of "Monopoly".
Or how about For Profit Prisons. That's a good one and its recent.
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Or maybe I remember things fondly growing up in the 80s and 90s, and my fond memories are correct. And maybe, just maybe, when businesses want profit, you ought to give it to them.Ok. So lets let Walmart own your street. The street in front of your house. To leave your driveway, you need a monthly subscription, which they will set at $500.
Since you NEED your car to get to work, you have no choice in paying, don't you? And since Walmart owns the street and you have no choice in where shop for your driving needs, you MUST pay them. Unless you wanna walk on the sidewalk that they also own. That's only $100/month.
See: Internet providers for real world examples.
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We've driven through New Jersey several times. We've seen some very sketchy businesses. There are also nice country roads where you can buy bread in Cape May. Or small food stands that sell corn or other produce. You don't seem to understand New Jersey.At no point did I mention the quality of businesses in New Jersey. I was referring to the NJ transit Authority, which handles roads like the Turnpike, and how the tolls are ... not enough to cover the total cost of the turnpike. Its even worse in places where it snows alot. But sure, keep thinking you're right when history has proven you wrong.
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We went to a restaurant recently for Mother's Day. My dad (upper-middle class, not super wealthy but able to do nice things) went about a $30/person restaurant. With taxes and tip, he raised the total to about $50/person, he said. That's a little more than 30% combined tax and tip, no?And? Isn't your dad a pastor at a big church, making close to or over $100,000/year?
As for me, I usually avoid restaurants, as I know that I can't pay a fair tip.
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You don't understand choice, because you think people have to be forced to do things. If you offer people something they already want, yes they will pay for it. The reason rich people might not like spending a 30% sales tax is that you foisted it on them. Compare these two sales taxes, and see if you get it.Version 1: They literally buy luxury cars depsite the luxury tax. The only reaon to buy it is status symbol and thus: they do. So already you're wrong.
Version 1: Luxury car tax at 30%. No say in how it is spent. Rich hate this tax (but let's face it, they hate all taxes) and might instead buy non-luxury cars.
Version 2: Many more cars are considered luxury. The ones that aren't are like used Pintos or 10+ year old cars. Those cars are tax free. Buying any decent new car has a 10% tax. But can pay a custom tax of 11% or more. Someone is super in favor of funding Ukraine's war. They buy the same car, but this time volunteer to pay 30%, provided they can write in 'Ukraine'.
Version 2: If a rich person is in favor of funding Ukraine's war, they'll tell their representative to do that.
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You'd think that this is impossible. You'd be wrong. We can see you're wrong by looking at tip behavior. You can tip as little as nothing, yet the standard tip is usually 15%. Some pay alot more. After restaurants moved to a gratuity plus tip, some people just leave it at the gratuity and don't pay more. Interesting, isn't it? When people are told what is a social expectation, they tend to pay it and pay more in some cases. When people are made to pay a certain amount, they don't volunteer any more. Almost like people want to pay for things they want to pay for, and don't like being ordered to do so.Yeah... you don't seem to understand people. Tipping and Churches are social pressure. At least in America. When in Church, its expected that you give them money because you've always done it. Your parents did it. Your grand parents did it. Etc... Its pretty much how Churches work and that's why a plate goes around: You can see what others have put in and you feel obligated to put some in yourself. Its a way of guilting (even if they don't FEEL guilty) money.
You can see it's wrong again when you find out about charity contributions.
Taxes are supposed to be a tip for government doing a good job. If people are trying to pay nothing, this ought to tell volumes about how little they like the service. Or how poor they are. And if you think people have to be forced to pay taxes, deep down, you also know that the services the government provides are horse shit.
Churches do this model (offering is any value, not mandatory). They usually manage to stay in business, provide there are enough members. When there is a specific crisis (e.g. flood in New Orleans), they are told to write on the Pay to the Order of part of the check the church name, and the For part New Orleans Relief. If a church can do this, despite not having government resources and technology, why can't we make touchscreens that tell the government what we want our taxes spent on? You're making excuses.
As for your story: Well ... yes and no. It depends on the state. The average is 15-20% of expected Tipping. Gratuity payments are not tips and thus aren't counted as such for the purpose of your bill. But they range from 15 - 20%. More for larger parties. Which the customer than see's as a tip for the waitstaff (it isn't) and thus doesn't pay thinking they'd just pay double. Now tips and Automatic Gratiuty (or service charages) are treated differently. Automatic Gratiutity, if given to the employee, is counted as non-tipped wages. By doing this, the employee gets a more consistent paycheck and the restaurant has a more consistent income vs tips which vary wildly and since tips are often used to offset low wages to meet the minimum wage, it ends up being that the harder an employee works and the more tips they get, the less money the restaurant needs to pay them in a week. Depends on the restaurant of course. But you know ALL This, right? Because you ran a restaurant?
Key point too:
The IRS has the PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN FUND which is funded by $3 payments from taxes. This is totally voluntary.
So of the 271.5 million tax return in 2023 (https://www.irs.gov/statistics/soi-tax-stats-irs-data-book) they received $4,703,067.00 (https://www.fec.gov/resources/cms-content/documents/PECF_monthly_report_2023.pdf)
Divide that by $3 and you get 1,567,689 people. That's how many people clicked that little box.
That's 0.5%.
So, a voluntary tax/funding generated a whooping 0.5% of people who wanted to pay it. Now, obviously we can't put that to everything but it shows that, when given a choice to spend more money or not, most people won't.
So either put up your own data or go outside and actually talk to people.
You stop paying for trash pickup, they simply take you off the route and repossess your green bins. Yes, I know those are for recycling but you get the idea. It's a very very simple matter to connect payment with addresses. 
