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Les Leyne: What John Rustad is pitching: Tax cuts, addiction treatment, nuclear power, fire Bonnie Henry (www.timescolonist.com)

submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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His common sense vision for public safety involves a big increase in addiction treatment programs, most of them private and some of them involuntary, meaning during incarceration. He wants indefinite apprehension of permanently brain-damaged habitual offenders now wandering the streets, on mental health grounds. That could involve invoking the notwithstanding clause in the charter of rights to bypass constitutional concerns if need be, he said.

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[–] [email protected] -5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

If you are happy to pay taxes for the betterment of others, you could can also give your money to individuals, you can enroll in donating to charities, and you can buy things and give tem away. It is no different than you pay taxes, so politicians vote themselves a pay raise and more benefits paid for by your taxes. Ifyou buy things and give them away, it's no different than your tax money being used to pay for something and give to whoever needs it.

If you want to pay more to help people then start giving away your cash to anyone it can help, donate your money to organization. If you believe taxes are too low, you can give away your money to anyone you want to make up for it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Okay let's play this game since you obviously don't get it: Please tell me who should pay for the roads you use to drive on. And who should pay for the wildfire services that protect your house from burning down. And who should pay for police services to keep you safe. And who should pay for all other public good and services that exist to better our lives collectively.

Once you go down the rabbit hole of "everyone pays for only the things they need" you either end up re-inventing taxation with private entities instead of public ones, or you end up in utter chaos. For society to function, taxation is a necessity.

P.S. I do agree with you that misspending and corruption are serious problems that need to be addressed to maintain public trust in government spending, as I already stated. P.P.S. I do actually donate to charities that operate on small margins and put the majority of their donations towards their cause.

[–] [email protected] -5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Will you outlaw unions, ban unions in society to protect jobs? Will you support a single page flat tax?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

No, I strongly support unions. People have a right to gather and demand their labor be compensated fairly. Don't see how that's related to taxation though.

As for flat taxes - they are a scam that hurt low and middle wage earners much more than rich people. A progressive taxation system is the most fair implementation of taxation - where people that have little means pay less and people with lots of means pay more. This equalizes the relative impact taxation has on the individual's income to be much fairer than any flat tax every could be. A 20% tax on a 30k/y income is much harder to bear for the individual than a 50% taxation on a 3m/y income. Someone with 24k to spend after taxes will have a much harder time to make ends meet than someone with a 1.5m take-home income.