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Don't extra government programs mean higher taxes ?
This question concerns my friends Marcia and Lacey . Lacey found a Facebook post about all the government -- funded programs in Europe like free college tuition and free medical care . It said "Our leaders keep telling us we can't have these programs like these in the United States ." . I said "Their taxes have to be 160% !" . Marcia said I was buying into Republican propaganda . Lacey said "Most of our tax money goes into our elected officials' pockets !" . Am I wrong ? Don't extra government programs mean higher taxes ? I'll never say our elected officials are especially honest, but are the leaders of European countries any better ? Having to round up your own money to pay for your own college tuition causes a lot of problems, but is government -- funded college tuition really the answer ? Having to round up your own money to pay for your own medical care causes a lot of problems, but is government -- funded medical care really the answer ? Why should I pay for strangers to go to college ? Why should I pay for strangers to get medical care ? Isn't a society where everybody pays for everybody else's living expenses dysfunctional ? Why don't we work toward a society where everybody makes enough money to pay for their own college tuition and medical care ? Thank you in advance for your answers .
I've had to type this question out six times, and every time it disappeared for some reason, so I'm definitely due an answer .
Does what Marcia believes have any basis in reality ?
7 Answers
- ArcherLv 72 months ago
The government has no funds of it's own, they are not using "their" money to purchase votes now are they!
- formengLv 62 months ago
Yeah, politicians and some voters seem to forget that the government doesn't earn any money. What they spend all comes out of the pockets of people such as I and others like me.
- FoofaLv 72 months ago
The grift that makes our corrupt politicians rich comes from private business. In truth "most of our money" goes to support the military.
- StephenWeinsteinLv 72 months ago
Not always. For example, the U.S. spends more on health care than countries that give free medical care to everyone, because delaying medical care until someone has the money often makes it more expensive or causes the person to become disabled and dependent on other government programs.
- Spock (rhp)Lv 72 months ago
all European nations have a Value Added Tax of about 18 to 20 percent on everything [food included] the people buy [it works like a sales tax from your viewpoint] -- over and above their income taxes. that's how they pay for those things ...
- Anonymous2 months ago
This is something that is much bigger than can be answered here in detail.
But at a high level, yes the more services a Government provides the more money they need to bring in. A majority of the time this is through things such as higher taxes and fees. If they did not do this then they would need to basically print more money which would cause inflation and devalue the dollar. There is a point where you have taxed the rich to a point where they have no more money. Then your choice is to cut these programs or start to go after the rest of the people.
However, they can also do things such as "price control" which has almost as bad as an effect. As instead of a doctor who would charge a person $75 for an office visit, the Government could say that they will only pay that same doctor $25. So now the doctor is making 1/3 of what they made, but working 3 times as hard. Where it not only reduces their incentive to work, does not enable the doctor to provide the same quality of care.
The other factor is population. The US is significantly more populated and you can look all through history where these socialist types of programs do not "scale" well to larger populations.
- Anonymous2 months ago
Yes and know Taxes for the rich or no where where they should be . If you take all of the money for Lobbying then you have way way more funds......
