The Only Group in History to Request to be Taxed More

[Ganjarden]

Americans hate taxes. It's not a right or left issue. It's not a Democratic or Republican issue. It's not an old or young issue. It's strangely not even a rich or poor issue. It's an American issue. It's our biggest peeve. We all agree on some level: Our country is great, but we feel very cranky about forking over our money to the government.

This is an odd character trait in Americans. For example, we happily pay for cable even though television is free — we clearly have no problem signing up for more bills.

The average American credit card debt is around $10,000 and the average APR is 14% — we clearly have no problem doling out loads of cash with nothing to show for it.

We don't even pay out that much of our income to the government when compared with other industrialized nations. An average family with children pays about 20% of their income to taxes. For singles it's 37%. Belgians pay close to 55%.

But Americans hate taxes. We always have. We hate even the idea of them. We want to believe freedom and taxes absolutely contradict one other. Like improv and comedy.

Other colonies of Great Britain (e.g., Canada and Australia) simply asked for their independence. But not us. Americans were so outraged about the King's raising taxes we started a costly and bloody revolutionary war lasting nearly a decade.

Yes, it all started with a tax hike. "No more taxes!" is the original American battle cry. In a way, our country's birth was a giant scheme to avoid giving up a fraction of our salaries to bureaucrats.

We simply despise taxes.

Taxes are so loathed by Americans that politicians have to come up with new phrases in order to talk about them. That's why "fees," "tariffs" and "tolls" are used to "balance deficits," instead of just putting it plainly: Taxes are needed to fund the government. It's an attempt to make taxes palatable to American sensibilities. This prettier word tactic is combated by calling anything you disagree with the ominous "hidden tax." A hidden tax is something lurking in the bushes that can jump out and bill you. Very scary.

Notorious tax-phobe Grover Norquist requests conservative candidates sign his heavy-handed pledge not to raise taxes. He wants them to be like 1981's tax-cutter President Ronald Reagan. Not like 1982's, 1983's, 1984's, 1985's, 1986's and 1987's tax-raiser President Ronald Reagan. Because when it comes to taxes — always accentuate the cuts.

For politicians, raising taxes is taboo. It's an unmentionable.

But if you talk with the average weed advocate — er, marijuana activist — er, cannabis enthusiast, one of their selling points is if pot were legal you could tax it.

Yes, a sin tax! A sin tax is what the government puts on things like gambling, booze or tobacco. It's designed to discourage people from doing it — because taxes are just that revolting. A sin tax is punitive. It's monetary punishment for being a sinner — quite literally "hell to pay."

Could pot smokers be the only group in the history of the world to want to be taxed? To hope to be taxed? To specifically ask the government to tax them more?

"I can't remember the last time an interest group volunteered to be taxed," admitted councilwoman Janice Hahn of Los Angeles, the semi-legal weed capital of the country.

This might be a first. Historic. A group of Americans are actually lobbying the government asking to give more money to the government in the form of a tax. Weed is rumored to expand your mind in all sorts of unspecified ways. We may have found one of them.

Volumes of political theory have just been challenged. We're witnessing history here. Someone notify the media!


NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: The Moderate Voice
Author: Tina Dupuy
Contact: The Moderate Voice
Copyright: 2010 The Moderate Voice
Website: The Only Group in History to Request to be Taxed More (Guest Voice)

 

[stonewallred]

Think we went to war with england for our freedom from oppressive taxes. And IIRC, those oppressive and unjust taxes were somewhere in the neighborhood of 2-4%.
Been a while since I took a history class.

 

[goblinmarket]

I always find the hatred of taxes just silly, and borderline stupid. I like driving on roads, having access to the police/fire department, and went to public schools. And all these pro-war people who I see railing against taxes...

 

[stonewallred]

Taxes that also went to pay million dollar bonuses, and made wall street rich? Taxes that support illegal aliens on welfare?
There is a difference between taxation for the good of society and taxation for the good of the few.

 

[goblinmarket]

Except that "illegal aliens" don't use welfare at any a higher rate than citizens? I'd rather my taxes support another human being like that than pay for some rich dude's yacht.

I'm fully against the bonuses, but to be against all taxation? Really. I mentioned people being gung ho on the war and also having the nerve to be anti-taxes. That is just stupid.

Too bad most anti-tax people don't actually differentiate. I see them yell more about how their precious tax dollars are spent on welfare, which they think is some luxurious way of living, than I ever have seen them complain about war spending.

 

[stonewallred]

I live in the barrio. I watched as the local brick masons, painters, roofers, and carpenters, not to mention lawn care companies, garages and small engine repair shops all get run out of business when the area I lived in went from a 50-50 mix of lower to lower-middle class mixture of blacks and whites to almost 90% latino.
I watch the people ahead of me, primarily latino, use food stamps to pay for hundreds of dollars worth of groceries. My former business involved me interacting with rental property owners/managers and required me to go into the properties on a regular basis. They went from whites and blacks to almost 100% latino, and they are all Section 8 housing.
Sorry charlie, the facts about illegal aliens and the cost to real people is out there and available.
I have no problem with folks coming to America in search for a better life, but they need to do it legally.
One of my closest friends came to America when she was 13 years old. She did not get her US citizenship until she was 25 years old, and had been working on getting it since she was 18.
Of course she was white and from Sweden and did not spit out any anchor babies, so maybe that was the difference.
And anti-taxes is generally anti-excessive and unfair and immoral, not no taxes at all. But nice attempt at spin and FUD.

 

[MedicalNeed]

If one does some research they will find that most "Illegals" were let in Legally and then overstayed their visas.

All the Boarder "Hype" is to continue the War on US Citizens that they call the Drug War.

 

[goblinmarket]

I live in the barrio. I watched as the local brick masons, painters, roofers, and carpenters, not to mention lawn care companies, garages and small engine repair shops all get run out of business when the area I lived in went from a 50-50 mix of lower to lower-middle class mixture of blacks and whites to almost 90% latino.
I watch the people ahead of me, primarily latino, use food stamps to pay for hundreds of dollars worth of groceries. My former business involved me interacting with rental property owners/managers and required me to go into the properties on a regular basis. They went from whites and blacks to almost 100% latino, and they are all Section 8 housing.
Sorry charlie, the facts about illegal aliens and the cost to real people is out there and available.
I have no problem with folks coming to America in search for a better life, but they need to do it legally.
One of my closest friends came to America when she was 13 years old. She did not get her US citizenship until she was 25 years old, and had been working on getting it since she was 18.
Of course she was white and from Sweden and did not spit out any anchor babies, so maybe that was the difference.
And anti-taxes is generally anti-excessive and unfair and immoral, not no taxes at all. But nice attempt at spin and FUD.

What's wrong with them using food stamps? Should they starve? Food stamps also happen to be the most stimulative thing possible for the economy.

Yeah, ok. I was talking about people, in my first post, who are anti-taxes and who don't make any sense. These individuals are anti-taxes that help the poor and disadvantaged, but have no problem paying for a war that has killed hundreds of thousands.

By the way, are you against only Hispanic illegal aliens? What about the white illegals? Or is a white person using food stamps exempt from your judgment?

And just so you know, people here illegally use social services at far less of a rate than citizens. And that makes sense, considering they fear being deported.

 

[stonewallred]

What part of illegal don't you get. Illegally in this country. Don't matter how or why or for how long, illegal aliens are illegal.

And if you are a citizen or legal immigrant, then food stamps are a boon to people who need to eat but not to the economy.

If you are an illegal alien, then you should starve, or turn yourself in for detainment and deportation.

And since we don't have anywhere near the numbers of races other than latino and to a much smaller percent asians who are here illegally, it is pretty usual to use latinos for examples.

 

[goblinmarket]

What part of illegal don't you get. Illegally in this country. Don't matter how or why or for how long, illegal aliens are illegal.

And if you are a citizen or legal immigrant, then food stamps are a boon to people who need to eat but not to the economy.

If you are an illegal alien, then you should starve, or turn yourself in for detainment and deportation.

And since we don't have anywhere near the numbers of races other than latino and to a much smaller percent asians who are here illegally, it is pretty usual to use latinos for examples.

So illegal people should starve? Really? That's cruel, absolutely disgusting. These are human beings. You are a horrible person to say that another human should die. We're all humans, illegal or not. Your life ain't worth any more because you have citizenship. What if all they have to go back to is abuse?

No, they're economically stimulative, period. The economy doesn't say "oh, those dollars were just spent by an unauthorized citizen, won't count 'em!"

Yeah, it's a racial thing to use Latinos. By the way, what do you think of the 50-75% of unauthorized immigrants who pay taxes? Let me guess, they're all asian and white.

 

[stonewallred]

So illegal people should starve? Really? That's cruel, absolutely disgusting. These are human beings. You are a horrible person to say that another human should die. We're all humans, illegal or not. Your life ain't worth any more because you have citizenship. What if all they have to go back to is abuse?

No, they're economically stimulative, period. The economy doesn't say "oh, those dollars were just spent by an unauthorized citizen, won't count 'em!"

Yeah, it's a racial thing to use Latinos. By the way, what do you think of the 50-75% of unauthorized immigrants who pay taxes? Let me guess, they're all asian and white.

If they stayed in their own country, they wouldn't be starving in mine. And the illegals I know, the majority don't pay any income taxes as they are paid in cash under the table.
Sorry that you fail to understand either nature or economic realities. This country can support its citizens and help them earn and have a better life. But it can not do the same for the rest of the world. And no, illegals are not an economic stimulus to the economy, they are a net drain, due to untaxed income, their use of infrastructure and social services which is not made up by their contributions and the massive amounts of money they remove from the economy to send back to their home countries.
A dollar earned, untaxed and then sent to another country is gone from ours, a net loss. The money they spend, especially using food stamps and housing vouchers, is money taken from a citizen, so no net gain but a loss due to administrative costs.

And I love the way you make my case for me. Yes latino illegals pay more taxes than other illegal groups. Why? Because there are more of them. But the amount of taxes they pay, the ones that do, is minuscule compared to the amount they remove from the economy.

I was born in the USA and prefer my country stays the USA and not become a third world craphole. And uncontrolled immigration, especially illegal immigration, leads straight to the ruin of a country.

Of course, since you seem like such a concerned individual about the plight of illegals, I guess you protest the Mexican Southern border and the penalties they impose on those attempting to enter their country from South America? Or do they get held to a different standard? Is it OK for them to shoot people and lock them up for years for illegally entering their country, but we are supposed to throw open our borders for any and all?

Want to come to America? Fill out an application and do it legally. I welcome folks like that with open arms. I have a few friends from Africa; Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Gold Coast, Ghana, to name a few, who did just that. And they are valued members of the community.

And as far as the racial slur you threw, lol. I find that funnier than the rest of your posts. A) You have no clue who I am, B) And no clue about my beliefs. But FTR, the last four women I have been involved with in LTR over the last 10 years, 1 was black, 2 were Latinos, and one was Native American. Guess they missed my white robes hanging in the closet or something.

 

[goblinmarket]

If they stayed in their own country, they wouldn't be starving in mine. And the illegals I know, the majority don't pay any income taxes as they are paid in cash under the table.
Sorry that you fail to understand either nature or economic realities. This country can support its citizens and help them earn and have a better life. But it can not do the same for the rest of the world. And no, illegals are not an economic stimulus to the economy, they are a net drain, due to untaxed income, their use of infrastructure and social services which is not made up by their contributions and the massive amounts of money they remove from the economy to send back to their home countries.
A dollar earned, untaxed and then sent to another country is gone from ours, a net loss. The money they spend, especially using food stamps and housing vouchers, is money taken from a citizen, so no net gain but a loss due to administrative costs.

And I love the way you make my case for me. Yes latino illegals pay more taxes than other illegal groups. Why? Because there are more of them. But the amount of taxes they pay, the ones that do, is minuscule compared to the amount they remove from the economy.

I was born in the USA and prefer my country stays the USA and not become a third world craphole. And uncontrolled immigration, especially illegal immigration, leads straight to the ruin of a country.

Of course, since you seem like such a concerned individual about the plight of illegals, I guess you protest the Mexican Southern border and the penalties they impose on those attempting to enter their country from South America? Or do they get held to a different standard? Is it OK for them to shoot people and lock them up for years for illegally entering their country, but we are supposed to throw open our borders for any and all?

Want to come to America? Fill out an application and do it legally. I welcome folks like that with open arms. I have a few friends from Africa; Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Gold Coast, Ghana, to name a few, who did just that. And they are valued members of the community.

And as far as the racial slur you threw, lol. I find that funnier than the rest of your posts. A) You have no clue who I am, B) And no clue about my beliefs. But FTR, the last four women I have been involved with in LTR over the last 10 years, 1 was black, 2 were Latinos, and one was Native American. Guess they missed my white robes hanging in the closet or something.

Well most of them do pay taxes. Whether you know any who do or not.

Do you not understand what I said about food stamps? They're the most economic stimulative thing. I'm not pulling this out of my ass, that's a fact.

I love how you know how much taxes they pay. Really, tell me more.

Yea, brown people will really make America a third world country. Who else is going to do migrant labor? And it's funny you think that illegals aren't part of this country. Mexican immigrants, legal or not, have always been part of America.

Yes, I said it was ok for them to shoot and lock people up. I love that you're trying to steer this away from the fact that you would gladly let a fellow human being starve, despite that at least half of them pay taxes, when many citizens don't.

Racial slur? Please, do tell the racial slur I made. And the people you're involved with don't make a lick of difference to anything you said. How "I'm not racist because I have black friends" of you.

This all has nothing to do with my original comment anyway. The fact is many anti-tax tea partiers rail against social services but gladly pay for a war that has slaughtered hundreds and thousands. That is downright ridiculous.

 

[stonewallred]

Whatever dude. You just want to push a liberal agenda with hippie peacenik BS thrown in.
Taxes are for the good of the citizens, not for the good of any tom, dick or harry that decides to ignore our borders and laws and come over here.
And throwing in your anti-war sentiments makes me even less likely to carry on this discussion.

But food stamps are paid for by taxes and used to pay for food. Excuse me, just the loss of taking money from tom, to give bill, incurs a net loss to the economy due to administrative costs, not to mention that tom might have used the taxes taken to buy something made in America, or invested it into a business or made improvements.
Go back to school and study a little economic theory, because as it stands, you have no knowledge of it.

 

[goblinmarket]

Whatever dude. You just want to push a liberal agenda with hippie peacenik BS thrown in.
Taxes are for the good of the citizens, not for the good of any tom, dick or harry that decides to ignore our borders and laws and come over here.
And throwing in your anti-war sentiments makes me even less likely to carry on this discussion.

But food stamps are paid for by taxes and used to pay for food. Excuse me, just the loss of taking money from tom, to give bill, incurs a net loss to the economy due to administrative costs, not to mention that tom might have used the taxes taken to buy something made in America, or invested it into a business or made improvements.
Go back to school and study a little economic theory, because as it stands, you have no knowledge of it.

What on earth are you talking about? Food stamps are food stamps. Would you like to see my sources that show how stimulative they are? For every 1.00$ we pay for them, they give back much, much more. Why is this hard to grasp? Seriously, just ask for them.

No, this has nothing to do with anti-war sentiment-you're avoiding answering why people have no problem paying for a war, but get their panties in a twist about welfare. Helping people = bad, killing people=good?

I like how you assume I'm not an economist. Way to go there. Way. To. Go.

 

[SnowBender]

The only ones not here illegally have Native American blood in their veins.

Beside borders are just lines on paper, and similarly, just as meaningless as money.

 

[goblinmarket]

The only ones not here illegally have Native American blood in their veins.

Beside borders are just lines on paper, and similarly, just as meaningless as money.

Have you seen the video that parodies the new Arizona bill? A cop goes around asking white people for their papers, telling them they're trespassing on Native American land. It's pretty awesome (...and sad :/)

 

[SnowBender]

Have you seen the video that parodies the new Arizona bill? A cop goes around asking white people for their papers, telling them they're trespassing on Native American land. It's pretty awesome (...and sad :/)

no, but id sure love to see it...in real life.

 

[goblinmarket]

no, but id sure love to see it...in real life.

Me too. Very badly.

here's a link if you wanted to check it out btw

YouTube - Immigration Check Point

 

[SnowBender]

Fuckin perfect!!!

+reps+

 

[TorturedSoul]

Have you seen the video that parodies the new Arizona bill? A cop goes around asking white people for their papers,

Ya got any papers, man?

Wait, that's not what you meant...