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Topic: Why are people so eager to pay tax? - page 3. (Read 13586 times)

legendary
Activity: 1806
Merit: 1090
Learning the troll avoidance button :)
May 21, 2013, 06:53:53 AM
So you don't want to live as a politician in practically every Western nation?
[/quote

Zing mean XD nice one lol
Na meant third world vs first world the politicians are another level Smiley
legendary
Activity: 3010
Merit: 1031
RIP Mommy
May 21, 2013, 05:23:26 AM
So you don't want to live as a politician in practically every Western nation?
legendary
Activity: 1806
Merit: 1090
Learning the troll avoidance button :)
May 21, 2013, 04:27:27 AM
Because I don't want to live in a society with armed guards protecting your house, barbed wire fences around your property steel bars over my windows and an inate fear of poor people swarming or robbing my place because their standard of living sucks
legendary
Activity: 1484
Merit: 1026
In Cryptocoins I Trust
May 21, 2013, 04:24:14 AM
People are willing to pay tax because they don't want to go to jail.

This
legendary
Activity: 1050
Merit: 1000
You are WRONG!
May 21, 2013, 02:40:05 AM
Utilitarianism is a collectivist ideology where "the greater good" is used to justify violence against individuals. It is inherently evil.
okay, so people must not work together?

Individuals naturally try to maximize their happiness, but once this becomes mobs of people trying to maximize happiness for everyone else, it simply ends in disaster.
okay, then argue against the rational egoist if that whats you like.

Just look at how Mao or Stalin "maximized" happiness for the Chinese and Russians - hundreds of millions of people were murdered in the name of creating a "better" or "happier" society. When forced on people, Utopia invariably becomes Dystopia.
did stalin or mao make the world a happier place? NO!
was their actions utiltaristic then? NO!

okay, so you point to two people who killed a lot of poeple, yell utiltarist at them, and then generalize from a bad premise.

i see your flawless logic.
full member
Activity: 196
Merit: 100
Google/YouTube
May 20, 2013, 11:43:54 PM
People are willing to pay tax because they don't want to go to jail.
BTC is only taxless when you don't turn it into money.
copper member
Activity: 1380
Merit: 504
THINK IT, BUILD IT, PLAY IT! --- XAYA
May 20, 2013, 10:27:22 PM
Do people have the right to be hermits? I'd say absolutely.

You have no obligation or duty to contribute to any society, and even not the one you live in.

If you decide to be a hermit, you've removed yourself from society and have little need or way to contribute.


Given the way things are, I think this is a bit of an interesting question:

Can you live in a city and still be a hermit?

If you live in society, you have every right to be a selfish oaf and take without returning. But karma's a bitch.


No argument there. Smiley You're bang on!


Quote
Kant was right.

That's only because he ran into Swedenborg's works as a younger man. Wink

Hehehe! Smiley It pays to stand on the shoulders of giants. Cheesy
copper member
Activity: 1380
Merit: 504
THINK IT, BUILD IT, PLAY IT! --- XAYA
May 20, 2013, 10:21:16 PM
And that is why we should kill all the jews. Utilitarianism is simply stupid as a moral theory. It ends in murder. Always. It cannot accomodate diversity of thought or personage.
please explain why maximizing the world's happiness is a bad thing.

Utilitarianism is a collectivist ideology where "the greater good" is used to justify violence against individuals. It is inherently evil.

Individuals naturally try to maximize their happiness, but once this becomes mobs of people trying to maximize happiness for everyone else, it simply ends in disaster.

Just look at how Mao or Stalin "maximized" happiness for the Chinese and Russians - hundreds of millions of people were murdered in the name of creating a "better" or "happier" society. When forced on people, Utopia invariably becomes Dystopia.
sr. member
Activity: 476
Merit: 250
May 20, 2013, 02:12:52 PM
Do people have the right to be hermits? I'd say absolutely.

You have no obligation or duty to contribute to any society, and even not the one you live in.

If you decide to be a hermit, you've removed yourself from society and have little need or way to contribute.

If you live in society, you have every right to be a selfish oaf and take without returning. But karma's a bitch.

Quote
Kant was right.

That's only because he ran into Swedenborg's works as a younger man. Wink
legendary
Activity: 1050
Merit: 1000
You are WRONG!
May 20, 2013, 07:40:29 AM
And that is why we should kill all the jews. Utilitarianism is simply stupid as a moral theory. It ends in murder. Always. It cannot accomodate diversity of thought or personage.
please explain why maximizing the world's happiness is a bad thing.
copper member
Activity: 1380
Merit: 504
THINK IT, BUILD IT, PLAY IT! --- XAYA
May 20, 2013, 05:51:39 AM
the problem with kantian ethics is that if you follow the categorical imperative, its very easy to end up in a situation where you can't take any actions, but by not taking any action you have chosen not to do so, and therefor have chosen the action of non-acting, which is immoral. When kantian ethics are faced with a moral dilemma it fails horribly.


Those critques are short sighted and simply silly. I'm not going to bother explaining why as I'm simply lazy. Tongue


rational egoism or utilitarianism does not have this problem, they only try to maximize happiness(either your own, or a group's).


And that is why we should kill all the jews. Utilitarianism is simply stupid as a moral theory. It ends in murder. Always. It cannot accomodate diversity of thought or personage.


Kant is wrong.

No. You are. Tongue Cheesy
legendary
Activity: 1050
Merit: 1000
You are WRONG!
May 20, 2013, 05:17:44 AM
Kant was right. End of story.
Fascinating how much you  want to close the discussion, you just quote some old dead dude. Afraid to lose?

Please! Be my guest. Do go ahead and show why Kant is wrong! But don't be surprised when you fail, just like several hundred years of others.

Critiques of Kant mostly rely on the introduction of a logical contradiction and then the critiquer dancing around and praising how clever they are. The rest of the critiques of Kant pretty much boil down to temper tantrums, hissy fits and name calling.

BTW - The reference there goes directly back to what Severian had brought up with obligation, i.e. duty. You need to read an understand Kant at least a bit though to get the reference and how it applies. It's not directed toward the broader discussion. Well, until you decide to apply it like that.

As for him being "some old dead dude", you appear to be showing a general lack of knowledge about moral philosophy. Kant is the giant.
the problem with kantian ethics is that if you follow the categorical imperative, its very easy to end up in a situation where you can't take any actions, but by not taking any action you have chosen not to do so, and therefor have chosen the action of non-acting, which is immoral. When kantian ethics are faced with a moral dilemma it fails horribly.

rational egoism or utilitarianism does not have this problem, they only try to maximize happiness(either your own, or a group's).

Kant is wrong.
copper member
Activity: 1380
Merit: 504
THINK IT, BUILD IT, PLAY IT! --- XAYA
May 20, 2013, 05:06:14 AM
Kant was right. End of story.
Fascinating how much you  want to close the discussion, you just quote some old dead dude. Afraid to lose?

Please! Be my guest. Do go ahead and show why Kant is wrong! But don't be surprised when you fail, just like several hundred years of others.

Critiques of Kant mostly rely on the introduction of a logical contradiction and then the critiquer dancing around and praising how clever they are. The rest of the critiques of Kant pretty much boil down to temper tantrums, hissy fits and name calling.

BTW - The reference there goes directly back to what Severian had brought up with obligation, i.e. duty. You need to read an understand Kant at least a bit though to get the reference and how it applies. It's not directed toward the broader discussion. Well, until you decide to apply it like that.

As for him being "some old dead dude", you appear to be showing a general lack of knowledge about moral philosophy. Kant is the giant.
legendary
Activity: 1050
Merit: 1000
You are WRONG!
May 20, 2013, 03:16:31 AM
Kant was right. End of story.
Fascinating how much you  want to close the discussion, you just quote some old dead dude. Afraid to lose?
copper member
Activity: 1380
Merit: 504
THINK IT, BUILD IT, PLAY IT! --- XAYA
May 20, 2013, 12:01:54 AM
At the end of the day, you're obligation as a citizen of your country is to pay tax.

My obligation is to contribute to the society I live in, not to support the government I live under.


I'd go a lot further, or from a different perspective, I wouldn't go that far.

Do people have the right to be hermits? I'd say absolutely.

You have no obligation or duty to contribute to any society, and even not the one you live in.


So no, no one is under any obligation to pay tax to a government. A government may coerce you into paying but that still doesn't mean you're obligated. But all decent human beings do have a desire to contribute to the community of people in which they live.

I think that's a much better characterization - the desire to contribute. But I wouldn't go as far as to say they are obligated.

Going back to Immanuel Kant, the only good is a good will. If you remove freedom, there is no possibility to do anything moral. i.e. Where there is no freedom, there is no morality.

Kant was right. End of story.
copper member
Activity: 1380
Merit: 504
THINK IT, BUILD IT, PLAY IT! --- XAYA
May 19, 2013, 11:56:29 PM
You are horribly misinformed. This is not how it works at all.

If you go to a foreign country and earn money, you still owe US federal tax.

If you go to Thailand and have sex with an underage prostitute, you will still go to jail when you return to the United States.

If you kill someone on a boat in international waters you still will be tried for murder.

Sorry, it usually does not matter where the deed takes place.

Frayed knot. Wink

What you are describing is criminal overstepping of government authority outside of its jurisdiction.

What you've put forward is, sorry to say, complete and utter insanity. It would put everyone under every law, and everyone would be stoned to death. e.g. Why shouldn't you be subject to Shariah law? Other people are.

Well, the objection you (or someone else) will put up is, "Oh, but I'm not a citizen of XYZ." The underlying assumption there is that you are the property of whatever country you are from and have no self-ownership. i.e. You are a slave. I'm not going to bother putting in the effort to explain why because statists can't be reasoned with because they start with logical contradictions after which any absurd premise follows, e.g. it's ok for some people to be violent, but not others, etc. etc. The slave logic there holds.
sr. member
Activity: 476
Merit: 250
May 13, 2013, 02:19:58 PM
At the end of the day, you're obligation as a citizen of your country is to pay tax.

My obligation is to contribute to the society I live in, not to support the government I live under.

There's a huge difference between society and government. Some or many of the ills of our day can be attributed to the fact that too many people confuse the greater good (society) for the lesser evil (government).

So no, no one is under any obligation to pay tax to a government. A government may coerce you into paying but that still doesn't mean you're obligated. But all decent human beings do have a desire to contribute to the community of people in which they live.
hero member
Activity: 683
Merit: 500
May 12, 2013, 09:34:03 PM
At the end of the day, you're obligation as a citizen of your country is to pay tax.

If you think the tax is too high, then live some where else really. You're basically scamming your country.

But fair enough I guess, everyone to themselves.
That were my thoughts too, till they taxed my wife 9000 euro's while she had earned that year 1600/month. If you work in Belgium than they automatically deduct the taxes from your wage, my wife worked in The Netherlands where they taxed her on her wage and a year later the Belgium state was sending us a nice bill, seems they can tax you a second time. She worked 2 years in the Netherlands so you got to multiply that by 2, 18000euro on taxes. 

Welcome in Belgium  Wink
http://www.businesspundit.com/12-countries-with-the-highest-lowest-tax-rates/

I think my country scammed us enough to scam them back now.
legendary
Activity: 1582
Merit: 1002
May 11, 2013, 11:57:55 PM
If you think the tax is too high, then live some where else really.
If some considerable amount of rich people will decide to leave home country due to high taxes, its government can start imposing 20..30..50...% expatriation tax on all assets.
Some totalitarian govts could even try to ban to emigrate altogether IMHO.
hero member
Activity: 504
Merit: 500
May 11, 2013, 09:24:37 PM
At the end of the day, you're obligation as a citizen of your country is to pay tax.

If you think the tax is too high, then live some where else really. You're basically scamming your country.

But fair enough I guess, everyone to themselves.
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