why people hate taxes

[oreo]

Life Inc. - Why we hate taxes (it's not what you think)


Among those surveyed, only 38 percent said they pay more than their “fair share” in federal taxes, compared with 55 percent who answered affirmatively in a similar 2000 poll. By contrast 52 percent said they pay “about the right amount” in taxes, up from 41 percent in 2003.

When asked what bothers them most about the federal tax system, only 11 percent cited the amount they pay in taxes. An overwhelming 57 percent cited the perception that wealthy people don’t pay their fare share, while 28 percent chose the complexity of the tax system.

This has got to be the dumbest THREAD ever. Why do people HATE taxes--could it be because it's someone else that is confiscating money they earned?--

 

[Conservative]

ThisNation.com--Is the United States a democracy?
Is the United States a democracy?

The Pledge of Allegiance includes the phrase: "and to the republic for which it stands." Is the United States of America a republic? I always thought it was a democracy? What's the difference between the two?

The United States is, indeed, a republic, not a democracy. Accurately defined, a democracy is a form of government in which the people decide policy matters directly--through town hall meetings or by voting on ballot initiatives and referendums. A republic, on the other hand, is a system in which the people choose representatives who, in turn, make policy decisions on their behalf. The Framers of the Constitution were altogether fearful of pure democracy. Everything they read and studied taught them that pure democracies "have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths" (Federalist No. 10).

By popular usage, however, the word "democracy" come to mean a form of government in which the government derives its power from the people and is accountable to them for the use of that power. In this sense the United States might accurately be called a democracy. However, there are examples of "pure democracy" at work in the United States today that would probably trouble the Framers of the Constitution if they were still alive to see them. Many states allow for policy questions to be decided directly by the people by voting on ballot initiatives or referendums. (Initiatives originate with, or are initiated by, the people while referendums originate with, or are referred to the people by, a state's legislative body.) That the Constitution does not provide for national ballot initiatives or referendums is indicative of the Framers' opposition to such mechanisms. They were not confident that the people had the time, wisdom or level-headedness to make complex decisions, such as those that are often presented on ballots on election day.

By popular usage, is TM's problem here (among many others we are all aware of)...

By popular usage, the word Jacuzzi has come to mean any hot tub... but it really only means Jacuzzi brand hot tubs. Not all hot tubs are Jacuzzis, but all Jacuzzis are hot tubs.

 

[Avatar4321]

You tell me why the right thinks it gains them to persist in the lie that we are NOT a Democracy?

Because we are a Republic, not a Democracy. And using misleading language distorts our ability to address the problems we have.