Taxes Are Justifiable

Thanks for your response. I will tell the voters that the one mistake I made was a pure accident, and unlike you my PC has no spell check. You mispelled cloths. --------Rebuttals---------- C1: Government and Taxes = PRO "There is no sufficient proof that a government is needed in modern society. There are nomads in the world that live just as well as we do" Sorry but there is plenty of proof. I will simplify this debate. Taxes = government. You cannot have one easily without the other. Here are reasons why Taxes are justified, and why government is justified from those justified taxes: Ø Taxes Are Justified: § Fund Necessary and Beneficial Activities for Society § Critical for Government § Reduces Income Inequality § Other Beneficial Programs Ø Government Is Needed § National Security § Assistance to those unable to fully support themselves § Equal Access to Opportunity § Economic Development § Oversight of Financial Markets and Institutions § Protection and Advancement of Public Interest Market Cannot Fix § Providing Investment when projects are too demanding for Market § Revenue Collection Service Government is good. Taxes are therefore needed. Government can perform a better job with the pillars of government necessity I listed than a anarchist state could. No taxes = anarchist. Plus, my opponent's source listed no evidence of "nomads thriving." It was talking of the evolution of some sharks. Clealy my opponent ignored this case as well that government is needed. Infrastructure: My opponent ignored this argument and didn't respond to it. You cannot fund a huge, quality infrastructure with a lottery. How the Rich - Got Rich: About taxation and how it is moral and necessary to society, my opponent ran away from this argument (ignored it). I apologize to my opponent about questioning his decency if he disagrees with the rich on how they got rich, but nevertheless, my opponent dropped the infrastructure argument altogether, and how taxation is needed. C2: Funding For Government with voluntary private entities "private organizations, donations and charities are also a major factor in government funding." The Proof: Private donations cannot fund a modern nation I would like to see an argument here. Look at the Roman Empire. With many of their people slaves, they didn't provide any tax revenue (actually hurt revenue). With many soldiers fighting the Germanic and other tribes, the Roman Empire was losing its tax base. As the Empire shrank, so did the tax revenue, and separate Feudal systems evolved to create their own public resources that they were lacking from the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire could not afford to pay government employees, roads, public aqueducts, and eventually collapsed. [1] A government cannot survive without taxation. Taxes are the dues we pay for a modern society. C3: "All" Taxes Need to Be Justified "If we are to debate taxes, Pro must prove that all taxes in the entire world are justified for his side to be legitimate. My point here is, that according to law, paying taxes is a voluntary act." No, I don't have to argue that all taxes are justified. That is absurd. We are talking about taxes in general. This is because when you talk about something, you are talking about the general theme of that topic unless otherwise specified. With taxes, we are talking about average taxes, not some unfair, unjust taxes such as the Stamp tax or a regressive tax. Compare it to a box of french fries you get at Wendy's. Sometimes you get an extra curly fry. You love the fries, but the extra curly fry was not good. This doesn't make you say, "I hate these fries." No, you would say, "these fries are pretty good, but not perfect." Difference. C4: Tax Havens/ "No taxed" nations I asked my opponent to list nations that currently do not have any taxation. Here is his list: "Andorra, The Bahamas, Cyprus, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Monaco, Panama, San Marino, Seychelles, and Switzerland" Nope. These nations have taxes. As Percentage of GDP in taxes collected: USA: ---------------- 14.7% of GDP Luxembourg: -------39.8% of GDP Bahamas: ----------17.2% of GDP Cyprus: -------------41.3% of GDP Liechtenstein: ------ 18.6% of GDP Mauritius: -----------20.8% of GDP Monaco: Has 20% value-added tax, stamp taxes, companies have 33% tax on profits unless money was generated in Monaco. Panama: ------------25.7% of GDP San Marino: --------57.5% of GDP Seychelles: ---------36.3% of GDP Switzerland: -------35.5% of GDP [2] In fact, the nations with the lowest taxes actually tend to have weaker economies (with USA and Singapore being the only exceptions). Some nations with the lowest taxation rates: Burma, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Turkmenistan, and North Korea. [2] C5: Income Inequality The effects I listed, such as lower homicide rates, higher average health, less mental health problems, lower rates of obesity, etc., are the results of lower income inquality. With taxes, the income gap is reduced. So, taxes = better societal benefits. [3] C: Taxes Are Justified Taxes pay for the vast infrastructure, legal system, educational system and resources, and the economic resources that allow people to make a lot of wealth in the first place. Second, the tax money provided to social programs and safety net raises the overall standard of living, and reduces the amount of poverty, allowing for more productive employees, a larger group of active consumers, and greater entrepreneurship, and thus a much more dynamic economy overall. Conclusion: Taxes are necessary for government. Government is an entity that man has realized is needed to have a better, stronger future. Many societal benefits come from less income inequality as a result of taxation. With a vast, strong infrastructure, a nation that cares for its elderly and poor, defends itself strongly and effectively, a nation that allows people to have a chance to succeed, a nation that allows people to become rich and have a strong economy, and a nation that is more perfect and modern, all requires taxes. VOTE PRO! Sources: [1] http://ancienthistory.about.com... [2] The World Factbook (App) [3] http://psych.mcmaster.ca...