The Myth that Taxes are Used for the Common Good

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Updated: Mar 28, 2022
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Category:Common Good
Date added
2019/10/03
Pages:  7
Words:  2244
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Back in time, during the 1760s, taxation was in the makings during the colonial challenge against the British tax collection approach leading to the American Revolution. The free country gathered expenses on imports such as whiskey and broken glass. States and regions gathered survey charges on voters and property business structures. State and bureaucratic legacy charges started after 1900, while the states started gathering deals imposes during the 1930s. The United States forced income taxes quickly during the time of the Civil War and 1890s.

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In 1913, the 16th Amendment was approved, for all time legitimizing a salary impose. Taxes, an amount of money collected from citizens are the dollars that individuals in society pay to the government to help improve the economy greatly, used to provide public goods as well as services to benefit the community like schools and workforces.

These taxes are based upon the total income made, these charges are surveyed on the measure of salary an individual procures. In the culture of America it is a widespread belief that the taxation of wages goes into improving communities and repairing infrastructure, obviously leading to a better lifestyle. American citizens often believe the government has America’s best interests at heart by providing a quality standard of living and maintaining one of the strongest military systems in the world, but without taxes this quality of life could not be obtained as the standard of maintenance and quality of care is increasing over a matter of time in the United States of America, this could be defined as the Cultural Myth of Government. Government programs are funded through taxes and are combined to pay for social programs such as social security, Medicare, and unemployment services.  One issue that has been bantered since the mid 1900s is regardless of whether the more affluent people in a general public ought to be burdened more intensely than their poorer partners. Many have contended over the advantages and disadvantages of the tax collection of more extravagant individuals such as the rich, however when one takes a gander at it dispassionately, the pros far exceed the cons. Taxes are an important factor in today’s society, it goes towards health insurance, infrastructure, professions, military systems, and government funding programs.

Individuals wonder where their hard earned income tax dollars go and may be in disbelief why they are working so hard to end up getting taxed by the government but in reality it is for the better cause. In the article, “Where do my income tax dollars go?” published in 2007 on April 5 by John W. Schoen, he goes into depth about where the tax money really goes “even though you may not have health insurance, about $219.40 of every $1,000 of your taxes went to pay for health care last year. On an annual salary of $52,000, that works out to $11,408.80 a year. The biggest chunk of that ($124.20 per thousand) went to pay for Medicare, which provides health coverage for people over 65. The rest ($95.20) went for Medicaid, which covers low-income families and individual, and state administered health coverage for children” (Schoen 1). Most of these taxes are being paid to help out low-income families, such as the poor. The taxes are used to obviously support many families who are in need of moral support. These taxes could be used to benefit the society as a whole because they go towards the improvement of the communities.

These improvements are widely known as wellness programs which help individuals in the workforce overcome specific health-related issues to improve and promote health for a better environment. Going more into depth, taxes are used to create infrastructures specifically schooling and roads which could be used to help the economy greatly. In the article, “States That Raise Tolls and Taxes Will Have an Edge in Getting DOT Funds; Department to consider amount of new money raised with tolls and taxes in doling out grants for roads and bridges” published in 2018 on April 27 by Ted Mann. Mann talks about why raising taxes is the key to making money for spending on infrastructure. Mann states that if taxes are raised it “will have a better chance at winning federal money for roads and bridges, part of a Trump administration strategy to have states carry a bigger portion of infrastructure spending” (Mann 1). The tax money the government receives from the income of individuals allow them to fund roads and bridges to get cars from point A to B, without taxes there would be overwhelming for an individual to get from home to work or to even having a job in general. Taxes are crucial to creating a stable infrastructure in the United States which provides government jobs and contracts for construction companies to help grow the economy by creating jobs. These jobs that are created by paying taxes are in many different fields, one of which is law enforcement.

The jobs created by taxes are sustainable government jobs that provide pensions and general job security to those it employees. Government taxes help fund for public matters like the presidency, the legislature, government authorities, and the personnel.  In the article, “Firefighters, Teachers and Police – Not a Federal Responsibility” published in 2012 on June 19 by Brian Darling, discusses how taxes are used for law enforcement and other important jobs, such as teacher, stating that the “…educating of children, the protection of the populace from crime and the suppression of fires are clearly powers reserved to the states” (Darling 1).

Taxes are bringing an positive affect and are paying for these occupations that allow civilized life to take place and prevent anarchy. People paying their fair share of taxes to support these important professions permit positive outcomes such as schooling systems and a protective force of security to maintain a safe and stable lifestyle. The military ties into the protection of the United States, in this article, “Your Tax Dollars at War: More Than 53% of Your Tax Payment Goes to the Military” published in 2010 on April 13 by Dave Lindorff. He goes into detail about how the spending of the military is perceived as a waste of money, but in the end it may benefit the needs of protecting the country, he states “Just to give one an idea of how small $4.8 billion is in comparison to the $1.6 trillion that the US is spending each year on war and planning for war, that number is roughly what the Pentagon plans to spend over the next year on childcare and youth programs, morale and recreation programs and commissaries on its bases!” (Lindorff 1). Comparing the military system from the United States to the Russians and Iranians, who rarely spend over 90 billion dollars towards their military system, the United States proudly pays around $1.6 trillion dollars every year to protect the citizen of the United States to their full potential while growing a stronger military year by year. Military spending could be much important in today’s world because an individual never knows what could happen, there could be a war in a matter of seconds. Wealthier taxpayers are a huge contributor to paying a higher amount of taxes to help support the low-income and middle-class families.

Individuals discuss how taxes are taking over their money but in reality wealthy taxpayers are paying to help benefit the lower class of people. In the article, “The Truth About Taxes” published in January 1995 by Sven Steinmo, the author explains the reasoning behind taxes and how it grows the economy in many different aspects, he talks about how “the rich are especially fortunate to live in America. The wealthiest Americans pay lower tax rates and have more tax loopholes to take advantage of than they would if they lived in any other modern country. If low taxes make you competitive, America should have the most successful economy in the world. The truth is that, despite our low taxes, American jobs are moving abroad” (Steinmo 1). The truth is that the wealthy taxpayers end up paying more for taxes compared to the lower-income individuals, the contribution of all taxes given by the poorest Americans is somewhat smaller than the share of the country’s income but has businesses increase over a certain amount of time, the price of taxes increase so the government could potentially make more money off the tax itself. With the prices of the taxes increasing, the government’s economy is greatly increasing as well through assistance programs funded by the government such as social security and savings.

The government’s programs funded by themselves greatly increase the economy through the assisting of their programs to support and help the lower class in need. In the article, “Testimony: The Positive Economic Growth Effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” published in 2018 on September 6 by Scott A. Hodge, Scott goes into detail about how the economy is changing overtime and that change is for the better, he talks about how “a higher corporate income tax rate reduces the long-run capital stock and reduces the long-run size of the economy” (Hodge 1). As money is increasing through the many years, the economy is slowing decreasing for the better. With all the taxes going on throughout society, as businesses are getting bigger they end up paying a huge amount of taxes due to their income, that’s why the businesses owners pay for taxes at the end of the year and don’t end up getting taxes back unless they have tax write-offs, these high tax demands allow support the lower classes as up to 33% of tax towards the government. The government uses taxes to fund social security, which is no doubt an important aspect of life because they use these assisting programs to help fund lower income individuals but this could potentially change down the road of the civilization. In the article, “Projections of Economic Well-Being for Social Security Beneficiaries in 2022 and 2062” published in 2005-2006 by Barbara A. Butrica, David B. Cashin, and Cori E. Uccello, they dive deep into social security by looking into the different economic projections from 2022 to the future of 2062.

When the authors talk about the beneficiaries, they say “Social Security beneficiaries in 2062 are also more likely to be college educated and less likely to lack a high school diploma than in 2022. The increases in education appear to coincide with increases in labor force experience, at least among women.” (Butrica, Cashin, Uccello 1). Social security is way more than a retirement program, it is provided for a better insurance and lifestyle paid by the government to help support financial needs which could be used to help the retirement of an individual and also fund school programs for a better education due to the amount of taxes being distributed. These benefits could increase overtime in price causing it to be harder on people in the future to retire. In the article, “Economic Effects of Taxation: Top 6 Effects” published in 2016 on January 29 by Ritika Muley, she goes into the positive effects on how taxation is used and why it is for the better of the nation. She talks about how “taxes produce favourable effects on the ability and the desire to work, save and invest, there will be a favourable effect on the employment situation of a country…development projects, it will increase employment in the economy. If taxes affect the volume of savings and investment badly then recession and unemployment problem will be aggravated” (Muley 1). The process of employment will increased throughout the years, more projects will be tested which means more employees. There taxes will cause a positive effect towards an growing economy.

People must pay their taxes in order to live in an equal and safe environment, many individuals are forced to pay their taxes due to the government, if not this could cause an horrible economy leading to major depression of living. Citizens must pay for their taxes or the worst of the worse may happen, there will be no healthcare, no infratures, such as roads and schooling for education. Those are the most important things in life, everyone must need to help pay for the United States of America’s Military system, they use the money from the citizens towards the military to protect them of the best of their ability. So keep paying taxes, it’s good to help.

In conclusion, the government is at the best interest at heart no doubt. The myth of government goes into topic about the myth that taxes are used for the common good. These taxes are based upon the total income made, these charges are looked upon on the salary of an individual either coming from the poor to the rich. This is how governments decide to track upon people. Government programs are funded through the taxation system and  pay for social programs such as Social security, Medicare, and unemployment services. The biggest chunk of that $124.20 per thousand went to pay for Medicare, which provides health coverage for people over 65. Taxes are used to create infrastructures like schooling and roads which could be used to help the economy greatly. They also bring an positive affect ny paying for these occupations that allow civilized life to take place and prevent anarchy. Individuals discuss how taxes are taking over their money but at the end, wealthy taxpayers are paying to help benefit the lower class of people. The government’s important programs increase the economy through the assisting of their programs to support and help the lower class people in need. Taxes are what keeps the system running in a world like this, welcome to reality.

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The Myth That Taxes Are Used For The Common Good. (2019, Oct 03). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/the-myth-that-taxes-are-used-for-the-common-good/