Results of Atheism

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yay for gov'ment!

You remind of a movie character.

Burt Gummer from the Tremors saga.

it really does border on a parody,

as for how it becomes 46 when i only pay 36, sensible tax brackets, same goes for companies.
also, ever heard of averages?

6 month waiting lists happen in the UK (I'm on one), but that's only because our country is too p**** to be a proper social democratic one.

I think your math is somewhat skewed. You may only pay 36%, but you alone aren't the majority of taxes collected.

If it's reported at 46% of GDP, then it's 46% of all revenues. Numbers don't lie.

If you're in the higher brackets, say for example your company makes 500k a year in profit, the moment you spend any of that on labor, materials, fuel for example, it's taxed. This decreases the available funds to hire new people, or expand the business. If the gov takes roughly half that, you won't be able to afford to hire as many people, so the standard of living is lowered over the average (hey there's that word) of the population. How does the government take it? When you pay your employees you withhold funds and pay the government. Instead of going to your employees, it funds the government, so a good percentage of your payroll is directly taxed. You run a company, you should understand these principles.

Do you have any understanding of how taxes work?

If a government collects very little or no tax, standards of living will be TERRIBLE... no money for public libraries, roads, health care, education (whether you agree with those two or not, the fact remains that they lead to a higher quality of life), any kind of public service really.

Take a look at countries with extremely low tax rates. How about Somalia? No taxes at all! They must have a great quality of life, right?

Somalia has no government at all. I'm not even sure how to argue that except that if you live there you'll probably pay with your life? That's a pretty high tax rate. And since your life is what you pay the government anyway, what's the difference? I see none.

My hair is a bird, your argument in invalid.

So basically you can use a strawman argument, and I can't.... interesting...

You can be stubborn all you want. Doesn't change the facts.

I live in a low tax rate state. Cost if living here is pretty darn low. Crime is kinda high, but crime in New York is also pretty high and NY is one of the highest taxed states.

it is ignorant ever to believe one has "all the facts"

and you dont understand how tax works, at all.

if i spend money in my company on, lets say a new desktop workstation or a car, then that, depending on circumstance is deductible.
and yes, some do pay more taxes, but the people that do have enough not to need anything more, even if they want kristal parties, kids on coke and a house worth the better part of 20 million dollars,

Cost of living does not equal quality of life.

You say you live in the states, let's see where America places as far as quality of life goes...

Okay, the survey I found lists cities, not countries. The number 1 city is Vienna in Austria. The highest ranked American city is Honolulu in 29'th, the highest ranked mainland U.S. city is San Francisco, tied for 30'th with Paris.

Canada, Austria, Switzerland, New Zealand and Germany make up the top five.

The study also lists personal safety... America doesn't score in the top 50 at all. Canada, Sweden, The United Arab Emirates, Australia, Japan, and Germany all make appearances (among others).

What I am seeing here, is high tax countries scoring much better in quality of life as well as personal safety... this would appear to directly contradict your opinion.

My source:
2011 Quality Of Living Survey

^^^^

The latest economist rankings for livable cities are dominated by Australia and Canada.

1. Melbourne
2. Vienna
3. Vancouver
4. Toronto
5. Calgary
6. Sydney
7. Helsinki
8. Perth
9. Adelaide
10. Auckland.

Anti-intellectualism has shown its face wherever there has been tyranny and greed, though. Evil men can only prosper while the truth cannot be freed.

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood."

Ralph Waldo Emerson. A wise man in many ways. A silly jackass in others. For both reasons, I rather like him. I would never quote a philosopher I wouldn't feel comfortable calling an idiot, wherever it were warranted. If you can't disagree with a man and still think he's brilliant, you are led by fools, and you will be led by them in crucifying the next sage.

Ah, I suggest mindfulness meditation for that.

Hey, that rhymes!

Of course, that's what makes it fun.