America Needs Taxes
Our hatred for taxes is misplaced, but for good reason.
As America approaches the 11th hour of a potential debt ceiling default, only cuts to the government are being discussed, even though spending is just half of the equation—the other half is revenue.
Revenue is taxes. Americans hate taxes.
Who wants to work long hours, grind through the week, and then have the government take some of their hard-earned money?
As it turns out, citizens in several nations with taxes higher than those in America actually like paying their taxes. They’re happier and healthier, have better services, get more time off, and even live longer lives.
The difference is the approach of the governments and the mentality of the populations.
Americans tend to ask questions such as, “What has the government ever done for me?” and “Where are my taxes even going?”
This mindset highlights three things:
Americans take a lot of what we have for granted
America is one of the largest nations on Earth regarding livable land. To traverse this land, we’ve created a vast interstate highway system, road systems, rail systems, and airports.
That is extremely expensive to build and maintain. Yet, as we drive over these roads every single day or fly from city to city anytime we want, we don’t stop to think about how our taxes made this possible.
Our taxes pay for our police, firefighters, schools, teachers, federal agents, and politicians.
Our military that keeps us safe, our space program that advances us forward, and our court system that enforces the rule of law, all paid for by taxes.
Some of the food we eat is cheaper because the government gives subsidies to industries to keep prices down.
There are programs to help feed the hungry, to help families in need, and to offset the cost of healthcare for those who can’t afford it.
However, even with all of those programs and departments, America:
Has 12% of the population living in poverty
Has a lower average lifespan than peer nations, and Americans die of preventable diseases every day
Has more violent crime than peer nations
Has a worse education system than peer nations
Has an obesity problem, a homeless problem, and an incarceration problem.
The government needs to do better
Those other countries that like paying their higher taxes have universal healthcare. When they need to see a doctor, they see a doctor, and their prescriptions are available at far lower prices as well. Universal healthcare is cheaper and more effective than the setup America uses today.
Universal healthcare is also a great example of how taxes should be used.
The public at large pools their money together to get services they need at a discount compared to buying them individually, much like buying products in bulk is cheaper than buying them individually.
Taxes shouldn’t be seen as money lost. When used correctly, taxes are money gained through better services than we could afford on our own, such as making food cheaper for everyone.
The problem is that subsidies are mainly spent on highly processed, unhealthy foods. Taking the same amount of money and putting those subsidies towards making healthy food more affordable wouldn’t raise taxes by one cent, but it would help Americans lead healthier lives and reduce the obesity rate, which in turn further lowers healthcare costs.
Those other happy nations have access to free public transportation, which makes getting around easier and reduces the number of vehicles on roadways. Less traffic and lower pollution, all at a bargain price.
Those nations get new parent care packages—a box with supplies needed to take care of a newborn baby. To follow that up, those nations have long amounts of paid parental leave, unlike the US, which has no paid leave mandated by law. It isn’t simply the time off; paid parental leave has been shown to improve both physical and mental health for new mothers. Again, helping people and making lives healthier at the same time.
Another difference between other nations and America is their reliance on science and data to determine policies instead of focusing purely on individual moralities.
The worst example of this in the US is the war on drugs. This endeavor has now cost America over $1 trillion in total. The results are beyond disappointing:
Drug use has increased
Violence increased
Overdose deaths increased
And incarcerations increased
A massive cost that only made the problem worse.
Yet even today, some lawmakers are pushing forward more strict drug laws while also refusing to legalize marijuana at a federal level.
A much cheaper approach to drugs is clinics, which can distribute clean needles, provide safe spaces, and provide counseling or drug rehabilitation.
These programs have been shown to reduce the spread of disease, reduce overdose deaths, and have even been shown to reduce drug usage overall. Why wouldn’t we switch to a program that works better and costs less?
Simply put, our tax dollars are not being used as well as they could be, and America would benefit from additional taxes. But Americans will never agree to higher taxes until they can easily see the benefits.
The Government needs to show where and how our taxes are used
If you’ve ever searched for where our tax dollars go, it is cumbersome to say the least. Rough, high-level breakdowns of how much goes to the military and how much goes to Medicare are easy enough to find. But drilling deeper takes a lot of work, involving many long and tedious PDFs. Even then, you may never find it all.
Our government should be required to have an easy-to-follow breakdown of where all of the federal taxes are used, not just by major departments, but down into the individual programs, including describing the intended benefit to the public. Any layperson should be able to read this breakdown and clearly understand how their tax dollars are being used.
Our government needs to be upfront about misallocation, such as what has recently been uncovered with the Pentagon. Civilian contractors have been substantially overpaid, and billions of dollars worth of military equipment is unaccounted for.
Waste, fraud, and abuse are all drains on what our taxes should be doing for those who pay them. Even worse, it makes the public lose trust in the government and the tax system.
A tax system that should be as painless to the public as is possible. Those lengthy tax forms you fill out each year? The ones you likely pay some overly inflated fee to H&R Block, TurboTax, or any of the other tax preparation companies? It doesn’t need to be like that.
Many nations don’t have a standard worker file taxes at all. The government does the year-end work and sends the result to the taxpayer, including any money owed. The only reason it is as complicated as it is in America is the typical reason: lobbying. Both H&R Block and TurboTax spent millions to stop the government from simplifying tax returns.
Here’s the truth about this issue, and almost every other issue: The government won’t suddenly improve tax usage unless people demand it and force it to be a priority. But instead of the population banding together to push for change and transparency, we fight amongst ourselves.
There are many things that the left and right, the red and blue, will not agree on. But can’t we all agree that if the government takes money from our paychecks, then that money should do as much good for each of us as it possibly can?