This isn’t a stupid question. How are you supposed to learn if you don’t ask?“I know they’re taking taxes out but I get them back”You realize that not everyone gets all of their taxes back, don’t you? Some of us pay a lot in taxes and we don’t get refunds. In all, the government gets about 50% of my earnings (and keeps it). Think about that for a moment. I am the one who got an education. I am the one who gets up and goes to work every day. I put forth the intellect and the energy to earn the my money then I have to split it evenly with the government. Then with my half of my income, I still need to pay my mortgage, buy food and clothing, pay for transportation for work, pay for health care, pay for my utilities, save for retirement, etc.In this free country, I can’t do anything without paying the government money. First, there’s federal taxes, then Social Security taxes, then Medicare taxes, State taxes, city taxes, property taxes (which equal $200 a month on my modest home), sales taxes, excise taxes, taxes on my gas, and taxes on my electric, water, cable, phone and internet bills. Then there are toll roads and toll bridges (another tax), fees (another name for taxes) for car registrations, boat registrations, dog licenses, hunting licenses, fishing licenses, etc. Then there are the “fees” that I have to pay my city government for permits (permission) to do things like build a deck or put up a fence.Maybe this doesn’t seem like a lot to you. But it is for me. I still need some of my earnings left to pay to support myself. Each small tax or fee may not seem like much. But can you imagine adding it all together?I don’t get my taxes refunded to me. Only low income people get that. If a low income person pays in $1,000 to taxes and then gets $1,000 refunded, they don’t actually shoulder any of the tax burden in our country. They end up paying for 0 amount of the services they use. There is also something called an EIC (earned income tax credit). This is a refundable tax credit that can allow a person’s tax bill to drop below 0. For example, a person can pay in $1,000 in taxes but due to the EIC they can receive a $2,000 “refund”. Basically, the government is making people like me pay in and giving the money to those people. They have chosen to have children and I have chosen not to have children. I pay and they get “refunds” that are essentially subsidies.We all use public resources. Why can’t we all pay something in taxes? We all have the same freedoms. Why can’t we all have the same responsibilities regarding the percentage of our income that we pay to the government? Why do I have to be penalized because I work a lot of overtime (so I earn more money) and because I have chosen not to have children that I can’t afford?...
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