Taxes Are Justifiable

Taxation is justified for a few reasons: Fund Necessary and Beneficial Activities for Society Critical for Government Reduce income inequality Other Beneficial Programs C1: Fund Necessary and Beneficial Activities for Society Basic Society: National defense, law enforcement, and a system of government are all needed to maintain law and order. With no taxation, a government cannot exist beyond very simple means. Obviously, a government is needed for a modern system. If a government was't needed in a society, we wouldn't of evolved to have them. Infrastructure: No person has gotten rich by themselves. Every rich person has utilized the vast American infrastructure, payed through taxes by the taxpayers, to get rich. As Bill Gates Sr., the father of Bill Gates said (about keeping the inheritance tax): "Bill Jr. didn't invent the Internet. [He and others] just used it - to make billions. There is no such thing as a self-made man. Every businessman has used vast American infrastructure, which the taxpayers paid for, to make his money. He got rich off on what other taxpayers had paid for: the banking system, the Federal Reserve, the Treasury and Commerce Departments, and the Judicial system, where 9/10ths of cases involve corporate law. These taxpayer investments support companies and wealthy investors. There are no self-made men! They owe the taxpayers of this country a great deal and should be paying it back." [1] If you disagree with the rich on HOW they got rich, on WHY taxes are justifiable, and why they ARE critical to society, I question your sense of decency. Taxes are our dues — we pay our dues to be Americans and enjoy the benefits of American society. Taxes are what we pay to live in a civilized society that is democratic, offers opportunity, and has a huge infrastructure available to all citizens. This incredible infrastructure has been paid for by previous taxpayers. Roads and highways, the Internet, the broadcast airwaves, our public education system, our power grid — every day we all use this vast infrastructure. Our dues maintain it. [3] C2: Critical For Government Taxes are the price we pay to live in a civilized society. I challenge my opponent to name a modern society that survives and flourishes without taxation. Taxes, unlike market transactions, are also delayed and not less tangible. For example, when we fill up at the pump, in a market transaction, we get gas. With a government transaction, we pay for the gas tax, and we end up with the Interstate highway system and our roads. I have already discussed the other points of the goods of taxation. If we had no taxation, we wouldn't have government. One needs to have the other to survive. That is why all modern nations have both. “Taxes, after all, are dues that we pay for the privileges of membership in an organized society.” - -Franklin D. Roosevelt “I like to pay taxes. With them I buy civilization." -Oliver Holmes Jr. C3: Reduces Income Inequality The progressive tax, or just taxes are in general have found to have numerous societal benfits for nations that have taxation. Lower homicide rates, less violence, less teenage birth rates, less mental illness, less obesity, and other societal factors improve when a tax system is used in a nation. [2] C4: Other Beneficial Programs As well as our huge, vast infrastructure, our system of law and order, and a functioning, stable, modern Constitutional Federal Republic, we have other programs that our government has created that we get the benefits from. I will name a few benefits from the government that we have gotten through our taxes: - Regulation of the Business Cycle - Interstate Highway System - The Internet - Public Health Programs - Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation - Social Security and Pensions - Medicare - GI Bill - Federal Housing Authority - Consumer Protection - Clean Air and Clean Water Programs - Workplace Safety - Anti-discrimination policies - Anti-Poverty progams - National Weather Service - Military and National Defense - Food and Drug Safety programs - Scientific and Medical Research - Student Financial Help - National Crime Information Center - Medical Establishment - Federal Reserve - Human Genome - Basic Scientific Research - Settling the West - National Parks - Conservation - Public Libraries - Education - Schools and Educational resources [4] Conclusion My opponent doesn't support taxation. However, with no taxation, we wouldn't be a modern society. We would have no system of law. Capitalism, the economic system that our nation has used to become rich, requires government as well. We all take advantage of the government programs that exist. We use them all the time. Our taxes pay for the huge, vast American infrastructure. With no taxes, we would become a barren, uncivilized nation. Vote PRO Sources: [1] http://governmentisgood.com... [2] http://psych.mcmaster.ca... [3] Lakoff, George. Don't Think Of An Elephant!. 1st ed. Canada: Chelsea Green, 2004. 24-27. Print. [4] http://www.huppi.com...