Busting Taxation Myths

For decades now we've been fed the story about how government isn't the solution, but the problem. Especially since the Reagan / Thatcher era in the 1980s, the demonizing of taxes went hand in hand with that of the government. Let's dispel this crazy notion once and for all, shall we?

_{Image by geralt - source: Pixabay}

Yes, we shall, and I'll do it with just a few examples that should be simple to understand for everyone reading this. The call for privatization of government services came with the promise of lowering taxes, and handing over the allocation of government services to private institutions and the marketplace because that would make it more efficient and cheaper. And thus the wholesale of what was once "the commons" began; we've privatized prisons, the military, education, public transportation and, the hottest topic in American politics right now, healthcare. So, we have a lot of empirical data to lean on when trying to draw a picture of the results. What has happened since we were made to believe that there is no society, there's only individuals striving for their own happiness and government just stands in the way of individual freedom?

There's one general conclusion to be made right away: taxes have lowered, sure. But there are two main effects that are both deeply negative: 1) lowering taxes has benefited the rich first and foremost and 2) the total cost of living has gone up significantly. And America is about to repeat the same mistake if they don't vote for a candidate who will fight for universal healthcare, like Bernie Sanders, who brings a message like in the first linked video. Let's take healthcare as our first example. Every other wealthy nation on the planet has some form of universal healthcare. All who oppose this in America point angrily at the higher taxes that are payed in all those countries across all income-levels. Which is true; we pay more taxes here in Europe and over in Canada, the criticism of the political right is correct. BUT... Americans still pay far more on healthcare than we do, because we don't have to pay all the other costs Americans have to pay for their PRIVATE insurance. Also, we never have to worry about getting sick, or having an unfortunate accident will make us bankrupt. Also we don't have to worry about some private corporation refusing healthcare, which is one of the main methods of private insurance to maximize profits. So, yeah, taxes HAVE to go up in order to make healthcare UNIVERSAL and CHEAPER.

_{'I Am Back,' Bernie Sanders Tells Supporters At NYC Rally With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez | TIME}

What happened after privatizing prisons? Well, that's simple; it has led to the sad reality that America has the highest percentage of imprisoned citizens of the world, beating all other countries including the most backwardly ruled dictatorships. Since privately owned for-profit institutions make more money with more "customers", their lobby has called for, and received, mandatory sentencing laws in 1986 and the infamous three strike laws in 1994. This has led to the bizarre reality that violent crimes have reached its peak in the 1990s, yet the prison-population is still growing, and has explosively done so since the privatization of imprisonment in the mid 1980s. Yes, a prisoner costs less in a private prison, but that's because they cut on guards and don't even think about rehabilitation and they have to keep their prisons filled; the overall costs on society are increased exponentially.

Don't ever trust the news when it's said that America has X number of troops deployed in some foreign war, or that they pulled out X number of soldiers. The reality is that these numbers do not take into account the PRIVATELY contracted fighters, of which there are now more than regular army soldiers. Yes, that's the sad truth; the military is being privatized too, and there are nor more mercenaries (guns for hire) than real soldiers involved in all these wars that were unjust or shady at least to begin with. These hirelings cost more money, at the taxpayers expense, than regular soldiers, but the benefits far outweigh the costs in this branch of government expenses; the "false modesty" of the true size of American military hegemony in the news is just one. But these mercenaries are also blamed for atrocities committed during the campaigns.

I could go on forever to show how increased taxes lead to a cheaper and more secure life for all, but instead I invite you to watch today's video, linked below with a ton of examples. In general though, it's not rocket-science. Healthcare and other services that have a STABLE and UNIVERSAL DEMAND are best payed for collectively, and not only because of the reduced overall costs, but also because it's the materialization of the reality that we ARE a society and not just a collection of selfish individuals. Oh, if you're a fan of the PragerU videos, you know, the ones who say that "taxation is theft", maybe better not watch this one... ;-)

_{Privatizing Public Services | Prisons and Schools}

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