(no subject)

[jackofallgeeks]

So, hold up, more than 10% of my pay is lost to Federal taxes? $56.13 withheld from a $530.00 paycheck! To say nothing of state taxes or the other withholdings... All told, I lost nearly 25% of my paycheck to the government!

Comments

[dikaiosunh.livejournal.com]

Well, the gov't does use that money for roads and stuff.

Mostly roads in Iraq these days, but still.

And the Strom Thurmond Health & Wellness Center.

[jackofallgeeks.livejournal.com]

I'd just as soon they left me my money. I'd rather pay a toll on a road and know that the money was used on the road's upkeep than have my money evaporate and wonder what it was being used to fund...

I've never been a great fan of federal healthcare, either...

[dikaiosunh.livejournal.com]

Oh, the Thurmond center isn't really healthcare. It's pure pork.

I mentioned roads mostly because - along with national defence and law enforcement - they're (well, large highways at least) traditional market-failure areas (using taxes to solve market failures is typically what separates the libertarians from the anarchists). I'd also argue that health care is an area of market failure, but that's for another day.

Detailed information on the federal budget can be obtained from the Congressional Budget Office (though interpreting a federal budget is a skill in itself).

[jackofallgeeks.livejournal.com]

I'd just figured that the Thurmond center was a spoof you'd made up. Still, I generally hold that I'm not a fan of Federal healthcare.

I think, perhapse, I'm more libertarian than I'd like to admit, but I'd be far more comfortable paying fewer taxes.

[dikaiosunh.livejournal.com]

Nope, didn't make it up. But I was mistaken in the name, it's actually the Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center. To be fair, it's paid for by a combination of SC state funds, alumni donations, USC money, and federal funds. And Byrd (D-WV) is still the reigning King of Pork.