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 lies in the approach of 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 in terms of its livable land area. 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, assist families in need, and 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 homelessness problem, and an incarceration problem.
The government needs to do better.
Those other countries that prefer to pay higher taxes have universal healthcare. When they need to see a doctor, they do so, and their prescriptions are available at significantly lower prices as well. Universal healthcare is more affordable and effective than the current setup in America.
Universal healthcare is also a great example of how taxes can be effectively utilized.
The public at large pools their money together to obtain services they need at a discount, 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 a form of money gained through better services that we could not afford on our own, such as making food more affordable for everyone.
The problem is that subsidies are mainly spent on highly processed, unhealthy foods. Taking the same amount of money and allocating 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 would further lower 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 receive new parent care packages—a box containing supplies needed to care for a newborn baby. To follow that up, those nations offer long periods of paid parental leave, unlike the US, which has no mandated paid leave 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 inform policies, rather than 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 exacerbated the problem.
Yet even today, some lawmakers are pushing forward with more strict drug laws while also refusing to legalize marijuana at the 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 utilized as effectively as they could be, and America would benefit from additional tax revenue. 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 is allocated to the military and how much is allocated to Medicare are readily available. However, drilling deeper requires a significant amount of work, involving numerous lengthy and tedious PDFs. Even then, you may never find it all.
Our government should be required to provide an easy-to-follow breakdown of where all federal taxes are allocated, not just by major departments, but also down to individual programs, including a description of the intended public benefit. Any layperson should be able to read this breakdown and clearly understand how their tax dollars are being used.
Our government needs to be transparent about misallocation. Take what was recently revealed by 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 erodes the public's trust in the government and the tax system.
A tax system that should be as painless to the public as 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 problem: 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?