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submitted 2 weeks ago by manicdave@feddit.uk to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

It's always talked about in the media as if everyone cares, but I don't think I've ever heard a normal person complain.

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[-] frank@sopuli.xyz 23 points 1 week ago

I pay quite a bit in Denmark, but used to live in the US.

I pay more taxes now (not THAT much more but definitely more). However I see what I get for my taxes here: healthcare, bicycle lanes, cheap and very good trains/metro/ferries/buses everywhere, etc., and sooo much support for people. It makes me proud to pay taxes here, even though of course I always want more in my pocket and I want more for my money.

In the US I hated the taxes because I paid more than rich people (as they pay nearly none) and I didn't feel like i got a lot from them.

No problem with taxes as a concept, but I hate how the US uses tax money

[-] evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

healthcare, bicycle lanes, cheap and very good trains/metro/ferries/buses everywhere

Danish healthcare is cheaper than US healthcare, and bicycles/public transit are also cheaper than the car centric US transportation infrastructure. If the US adopted socialized healthcare and sane transit, we'd pay less taxes not more.

[-] frank@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 week ago

I agree, if the US also used their tax dollars as intelligently as the Danish government does as well.

Seems like a pipe dream, but I hope at least parts of the US become more modern in those ways in my lifetime

[-] sbv@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 week ago

I'm fine paying what I pay, but I reserve the right to question the quality of services they pay for.

[-] racketlauncher831@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 week ago

And no. A person who pays millions dollars of tax does not have a louder voice than I do. We are all the same tax payers who pay proportionally to our earnings.

Give me back the public infrastructure I need and the billionaires hate.

[-] comfy@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I care more about where they are spent. My local government is spending it far better than my federal government. If it was half my income and was spent in ways that lower the cost of living and improve quality of life, then I'd have no problem with that.

If I get a tax cut, I think, cool, at least I choose where this money goes, because I actually do give some to non-profits that benefit society. Tax amounts are not something which determines how I vote, I gloss over it in the news, it's just incidental that the anti-worker parties want to raise my taxes and spend them in worse ways.

[-] mjhelto@lemm.ee 11 points 1 week ago

I'd care a hell of a lot less about the amount if it felt like it was being used for anything other than padding rich assholes pockets. I want my taxes to feed and help people, repair and maintain roads, and subsidies public transit. I guess I'm saying I want my money to help my community and the vulnerable, not sit in some rich fuckers bank account while a homeless settlement I drive by daily grows, tent by tent.

[-] PTSDwarrior@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 week ago

Now more than ever, I don’t want to pay taxes except at the state level. If Medicare and social security will go the way of the dodo bird, why should I pay? If federal agencies that make this country a civilized country have been dismantled, why the fuck should I pay? If the military and security apparatus gets bigger yet we lose out on government services that actually benefit the people, why the fuck should I pay?

And I’m at the point where I will cut someone who tells me I HAVE to pay my taxes. Because the only thing keeping me from wilding out in real life and even on the internet is the threat of prison time.

[-] normalexit@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

Last year I owed 10k USD. I certainly cared then.

Overall I don't think about it until I do my taxes. That said, I'd happily pay more if everyone else got healthcare, good infrastructure, and a clean environment.

[-] ArsonButCute@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 week ago

If it were being used responsibly I'd advocate for higher taxes, but here in the US taxation is theft.

[-] hyacin@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 week ago

I've heard many right wing folks complain, because in this country at least (Canada), the right LOVES to brain wash them into believing government should be smaller, socialism is bad, and high taxes are evil (even though when they get in they only give tax breaks to their rich friends).

I, one of seemingly few rational thinking humans left in this country, have always understood, believed, and told those people at every opportunity - "THAT IS WHAT PAYS FOR OUR SERVICES"

I remember before I deleted my FB account one tool on there complaining about an incoming 'digital services tax' (i.e. Netflix subs and such), and I quickly skim his wall or whatever, and he was collecting the "oh noes, I lost my job cause covid, please give me money government" benefit we had just like, a year prior - they SERIOUSLY just do not understand they very benefits and services they rely on and complain aren't big enough or good enough, ARE FUNDED BY THOSE DAMN TAXES.

As infuriating as all that is - it's even worse to see an entire half of our government fanning the flames of this idiocy, reinforcing it, and teaching them it is right!!

[-] DJDarren@sopuli.xyz 6 points 1 week ago

As a kid I guess I did, because I was borderline libertarian and something of a prick. But these days I'm older and a little more aware of people who aren't me, so these days I don't think about it at all.

I would prefer if rich people paid more, but that has no real bearing on how much I pay.

[-] manxu@piefed.social 6 points 1 week ago

If you get within earshot of a Republican, chances are you'll hear complaints about "damn taxes" within five minutes. So to a certain set of people, definitely everyone they talk to is constantly complaining about taxes.

When I was starting out and making little money, the taxes I paid were definitely cutting into my ability to live. I think instead of "standard deductions" we should have real minimum incomes. If you are under the minimum income for your location, you don't pay taxes.

Now that I am at the end of my career, I think it's stupid that my taxes are not higher. If I could have given young me some of the money I am keeping now, I would have had a much better life overall. I obviously can't do that now, but I can give someone else the same breathing room.

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[-] Tomato666@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 1 week ago

In the UK there is a crazy band between £100k and £125k where for each two pounds above £100k you lose one pound from your personal allowance (personal allowance is £12.5k).

The effective tax rate for this is 60% then it carries on at the regular 40%

Always has struck me as odd.

Never paid this rate myself because I don't get paid enough. Apparently it disincentives doctors from doing overtime.

[-] wewbull@feddit.uk 4 points 1 week ago

I recruit some people into this band. It always amazes me how much people care about whether they are paid £100k or £110k. The difference is about than £72 a week when they're already getting paid over £1,300 a week (after tax).

Ego.

[-] Greg@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 week ago

I pay a lot in taxes because I earn a lot. I earn a lot because I work hard and I was lucky (had the right opportunities, enjoyed work that is well compensated by capitalism, etc). I don’t care paying high taxes

[-] apotheotic@beehaw.org 4 points 1 week ago

I was glad that when I started earning a lot more money, I was being taxed more on that higher portion of the earnings. In theory, this means that I am supporting more good things. I am disenfranchised, however, with the fact that clearly large corporations and the mega rich are not paying their fair share, and that often my tax pounds are being spent in direct opposition of my very existence (anti trans policy, reversal of climate policy, etc).

I care about taxes, a lot, but I don't care about being taxed a lot, as long as the heavy taxes I face are being used in a good way. If a small dip to my quality of life or excess earnings means that overall the quality of life in the country gets better, I'm super happy to see it.

[-] ChexMax@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

The only time I have ever cared is when I've gotten a bonus. The tax rate is much higher on a bonus. I'd much rather my company just pay me $25 more a week than a bonus in December.

[-] DarkDarkHouse@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Tax isn't higher on a bonus. It's counted as taxable income like the rest.

Edit: Though you might live in a different country to me--I've heard some people do

[-] SmoothIsFast@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

US tax rate isn't different on bonuses, but the withholding is.

The govt sees you getting paid a shit ton one month and thinks it's gonna be like that every month from now on so they keep a bunch of extra money so they can be sure you pay your taxes. Then at the end of tax season when you file, you get the extra back in your return.

[-] Yermaw@lemm.ee 4 points 1 week ago

Not really. In the UK for hourly employees the employer handles all that before you even get your paycheque. When it's payday you have a big breakdown in the slip on what's gone to various taxes and stuff, but you skip all of that and just look at the number that says what's going in your bank.

If I was self employed, or won the lottery or something I would probably be a little pissed off about the concept.

[-] 5in1k@lemm.ee 4 points 1 week ago

Yes, the property taxes in my city are the highest legally allowed and the services we receive are dogshit.

[-] Penguincoder@beehaw.org 2 points 1 week ago

Be mad at the way the collected taxes are spent of course. Paying tax is the cost of living in a community or societies. Unfortunately we as peons don't get as much control over where it is spent, but definitely should have a say.

[-] Gismonda@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

I only cared when I was poor and living paycheck to paycheck.

[-] rumimevlevi@lemmings.world 3 points 1 week ago

No , my problem is just about where it got spent

[-] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 week ago

WAR! WAR! WAR!

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[-] ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 week ago

I became more aware of how much tax I was paying when I became self employed because instead of paying a bit out of each check like a w2 worker I have to pay it in lump sums quarterly.

I run a low overhead medical practice so I don’t have a tax cheat llc, I take the standard deduction every year and as a result my taxes are pretty much the same as they ever were. Even though it’s roughly the same amount (slightly more actually, now that I cut out the overhead of medical systems stealing 30-60% of my labor) there’s something psychological about paying the amount in a lump sum

I think paying taxes is important and I want to do. However I feel conflicted about spending this money because what I feel paying taxes are important for are generally not what my tax dollars fund, and increasingly so. I want to pay and gladly will for community enrichment, better public schools, access to healthcare, infrastructure like roads, power lines, sewers, moving away from fossil fuels, better handling of trash and recycling programs, rehabilitation programs for criminal offenders, mental health programs including interim programs like community supports and mobile programs that exist in between outpatient and inpatient, social welfare programs that give people access to housing, food, electricity, etc

But instead my taxes pay for these things increasingly less. About 20% of my taxes go to military and defensive spending and while I do think some amount needs to go to this I think it’s absurd. Most countries spend 3-5% on defensive spending. Even China, the second highest after the US, spends 6%.

So I don’t resent paying taxes but I do resent how much when roughly 1/5th of that goes to defense contractors to launder billions from taxpayer and Israel for genocide. I also resent that my tax burden continually increases despite making roughly $60-70k a year while the services around me continually decrease.

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[-] innocentpixels@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

I think taxes are great, but the rich really need to pull their own weight. The new taxes just fuck over the poor/middle class

[-] jsomae@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago

As for me, I would rather pay lower taxes and have everyone else pay higher taxes. I vote for higher taxes every time.

[-] shaggyb@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Nope.

They'll take what they choose to take. It's 2025. Social mobility doesn't exist, our votes are meaningless, and economic policies change with the seasons.

I have no agency, so it's not worth the stress.

[-] Partisan@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Yes. As taxes are put on the price of my labour which I sell to the owing class, I do not just loose out on the surplus value, which the owning class extracts from the value I created with my labour, but also on part of the value which the capitalist uses to buy my labour. Taxes should be abolished and the surplus value should be used to improve society. This is only possible if the owning class is abolished and socialism is construced of course.

[-] callouscomic@lemm.ee 8 points 1 week ago

This reads like another libertarian reinventing taxes and government as usual.

[-] Partisan@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago

It is called scientific socialism and was invented over 100 years ago.

[-] callouscomic@lemm.ee 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Do the exercise. WHO collects the surplus value? And then as that is applied to society to enjoy.....

You're describing a society with a government collecting money for the commons.

I suspect your argument is more to do with who/what is being taxed how much, and then where to apply said tax money.

[-] 2ugly2live@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Yes. Even with extra withdraws, I always owe. So it's more of an annoyance. Not to mention I don't like how my tax dollars are being used. If the US wasn't such a dumpster fire, I might feel differently.

[-] deadbeef@lemmy.nz 2 points 2 weeks ago

I have heard folks distantly related to me talk like the state tax rate was pretty damn important when selecting which part of the United States to move to.

They were the sort of people that would sit ( in their living room in New Zealand ) and watch fox news and go on the engineered logical and emotional weirdcoaster that sort of media offers up. This is some pretty niche viewing for folks in my country.

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[-] Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 week ago

I pay roughly 30% of my gross income in th US. The only tangible benefit I get from it is the ability to drive on free roads on my way to work to earn more taxable income. I only wish my money didn't go to subsidize the rich and make bombs to blow kids up on the other side of the planet.

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[-] SuluBeddu@feddit.it 2 points 1 week ago

The bulk of my salary depends on the company I work in and my boss' decisions

I have a much higher ability and chance to change that, compared to changing the tax system.

Taxes are just a fraction of my salary, and they supposedly also cover for my future pension. Meanwhile, most of my taxes pays for state jobs for essential services, such as schools and healthcare. Others pay for debt interests, for money that was used to invest in the country or pay said services.

Sure, a part of it is bad management and ill intentions, but that's such a small portion of my salary. Depending where you live, you might be paying some vere generous retirement plans, but most of the retirement money goes to old people who would otherwise require help from their family.

So no, I don't really care about my taxes. If I feel I don't have enough money, there are other things I can do than complaining about them

[-] wolf@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 week ago

I care how much taxes I pay for several reasons (Germany):

  • Rich people are taxed less than working people
  • Given that we have one of the highest tax rates in the world, a big part of my taxes go into corruption, incompetence or the pensions of civil servants (pensions for civil servants are way higher than for normal people, especially for some pencil pushing)
  • It gets even more fun, when I think about how many big companies are getting subsidized by my taxes with billions (speaking about companies which are making billions for their stake holders)
  • In our system, costs for health care system and workers pensions are also mandatory deducted from my income (they don't call it tax)... Given, what an average worker pays, we get not enough out of it, neither from health care nor when thinking about the pensions
  • A final tax, which is not called tax, is for public TV/state propaganda. There were more scandals about that money recently than anything else: The higher ups in that system earn more money than the president of Germany (no kidding), people get special pensions for the rest of their life which are obscenely high (after working like a few months, again, no kidding)

Don't get me wrong: I would happily pay taxes if the biggest parts would go towards services, infrastructure, public transport, health care, people in need and smart/strategic investments of the economy.

As it is right now, my taxes are siphoned into the pockets of the so called elite instead , so I care.

If you don't care about paying taxes, you are either mostly happy about were the money goes or have too much money to care.

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

I don't care because no tax cuts in my country will ever come out of the "hurting people" bin, only out of the "attempt to help" bin.

[-] That_Devil_Girl@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago

I care a little bit. I work as a welder and am on the verge of completing a four year apprenticeship. My pay is going to shoot up, so I need to plan to save money for tax day.

Right now I have my employer taking an extra $15 out of each paycheck to give to the IRS. It used to be enough to receive a refund. But these past four years as my pay increased, that refund gets smaller and smaller.

I'm going to have to get my employer to take a bit more out of each paycheck. Tgat way I wont owe anything at the end of the year.

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this post was submitted on 25 May 2025
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