Agree or disagree?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

A necessary evil.

I don't think of them as evil. Unpleasant at most.

[MrJonno]

No bills are pleasant but that doesnt make them evil

[Gawdzilla Sama]

No bills are pleasant but that doesnt make them evil

That's like saying it's evil to pay to see a movie. If I didn't pay my small bit, and everybody else paid their small bit, billion-dollar movies wouldn't be made.

[laklak]

Evil, unpleasant, no matter, I don't like paying them but understand they're necessary. The devil, as always, is in the details. One man's necessity is another man's frivolous waste.

[Ian]

Generally speaking, I agree. But I thought the original quote was from Oliver Wendell Holmes. Or maybe he just had a similar one.

[Cormac]

No bills are pleasant but that doesnt make them evil

That's like saying it's evil to pay to see a movie. If I didn't pay my small bit, and everybody else paid their small bit, billion-dollar movies wouldn't be made.

That Isn't a fair comparison though Zilla. Seeing a movie is entirely voluntary. Taxes, though necessary, are not.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

No bills are pleasant but that doesnt make them evil

That's like saying it's evil to pay to see a movie. If I didn't pay my small bit, and everybody else paid their small bit, billion-dollar movies wouldn't be made.

That Isn't a fair comparison though Zilla. Seeing a movie is entirely voluntary. Taxes, though necessary, are not.

But the concept of a group contributing to make the sum of their parts greater than the whole still applies.

[JimC]

The Beatles said it all...

Let me tell you how it will be
There's one for you, nineteen for me
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

Should five per cent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah I'm the taxman

If you drive a car, I'll tax the street,
If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat.
If you get too cold I'll tax the heat,
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet.

Don't ask me what I want it for
If you don't want to pay some more
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

[rasetsu]

I don't recall being asked which country I wanted to be born in, either. Damn unfair if you ask me, separated as I am by that long sea from the rest of my kin!

[Gawdzilla Sama]

The Beatles said it all...

Let me tell you how it will be
There's one for you, nineteen for me
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

Should five per cent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah I'm the taxman

If you drive a car, I'll tax the street,
If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat.
If you get too cold I'll tax the heat,
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet.

Don't ask me what I want it for
If you don't want to pay some more
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

Quite the philosophers, that lot.

[Coito ergo sum]

Agree as far as it goes. That doesn't mean that all taxes are appropriate or that higher taxes are always the right thing to do, or that all government spending is proper.

[Drewish]

Depends what the taxes are used for.

It's your duty as a citizen to fight unjust, unfair or unreasonable taxes.

Well then, if we accept that tautology, then sure I agree, but I know what FDR considered to be "just, fair and reasonable" taxation is part of why he was a tyrant who trampled on the Constitution.

[rasetsu]

The Beatles on writing the song Taxman....

Harrison said, "'Taxman' was when I first realised that even though we had started earning money, we were actually giving most of it away in taxes. It was and still is typical." The Beatles' large earnings placed them in the top tax bracket in the United Kingdom, liable to a 95% supertax introduced by Harold Wilson's Labour government (hence the lyrics "There's one for you, nineteen for me"). In a 1984 interview with Playboy magazine, Paul McCartney explained: "George wrote that and I played guitar on it. He wrote it in anger at finding out what the taxman did. He had never known before then what he'll do with your money."

Those poor, rich, boys.

[Drewish]

The Beatles on writing the song Taxman....

Harrison said, "'Taxman' was when I first realised that even though we had started earning money, we were actually giving most of it away in taxes. It was and still is typical." The Beatles' large earnings placed them in the top tax bracket in the United Kingdom, liable to a 95% supertax introduced by Harold Wilson's Labour government (hence the lyrics "There's one for you, nineteen for me"). In a 1984 interview with Playboy magazine, Paul McCartney explained: "George wrote that and I played guitar on it. He wrote it in anger at finding out what the taxman did. He had never known before then what he'll do with your money."

Those poor, rich, boys.

I know, right? Being forced to pay for wars, colonialism, and all the other injustices perpetrated by governments is horrible in and of itself. Having 95% of you income taken in taxation is just insane. Slavery, pure and simple. And the tax rates in the UK (while lowered in a breathe of sanity under Thatcher) are climbing back up, ever higher. It's really no wonder why people leave that shit hole in droves for the Americas.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Drew, do you really think the Beatles paid 95% of their income in taxes?