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Perhaps I'm understanding things wrong, but isnt the idea of taxes for public good and some / all of it might never reach you?

I pay for taxes that help run schools, and it is an good setup even if I dont have any kids.



Ive never liked this framing; "the public good" is too nebulous an idea to justify how tax should be spent.

I, and people like me create wealth. Some of that wealth is pooled at an administrative level that makes sense across a town, state, or nation. Its still wealth I created; and I expect it to be used to benefit me, ideally proportionally to the tax taken.

Unemployment can be justified as crime prevention; Disability and healthcare systems limit individual worst-case outcomes (especially if due to chance). Super-commuter subsidies do what?


That doesn't sound like a public good. It sounds like a private good.

I want a Ferrari. It would be good for me. Should taxes pay for it?




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