I don't care. You shouldn't complain about your taxes in the US. I live in Finland, we have one of the highest taxes in Europe.

And how does that have anything to do with whether I should or should not complain about my taxes?

That depends on the state you live in and the price charged for gas. A couple years ago the price was in the $1.20-$1.30 per gallon range and at that point in that state total tax on a gallan was $.62. With the price of gas right now and where I live the tax is about 30% of what I pay for a gallon. Can anyone really justify the government collecting that much revenue from any product. I used to have my cellular phone service, land based phone and ISP all through the same company. I signed up for a package deal that came to $59.00. When I got my first bill it was $92.00 because of government taxes and fees. Don't let anyone con you into thinking the taxation in this country is fair. A few years ago my roomate and I got into a discussion about how much an individual payed in to the government. Not just in income tax, but in all taxes. Social security, the various so called sin taxes, property taxes, labor and industry/workmans compensation insurence, unemployment insurance, sales taxes, property yaxes and the various fees manufacturers have to pay to the government to stay in business. we kept track of what each of us spent for 6 months, then we did a little research on the costs to the manufacturing costs of the products and services of what we had spent our money on. Nothing real scientific, this was just out of our curiosity. I came up with about 52% going to the government, he had 58%. The total income in our house that year was under $60,000. And this was quite a few years ago, I would have to guess that taxes overall haven't gone down from that point. So when people tell you the top 5% pay over half of the federal income tax don't hesitate to mention all the other fees paid to the government. As Xerxes pointed out the rich don't spend as high a percentage of thier income as the majority of people do.

Now before anyone starts calling me a communist I have no desire for an even distribution of wealth by taxation. I am a firm believer in the capitalist veiw that the people who work the system correctly get the rewards for that. That is how I live my life. I just have many problems with our current goverment, the way they spend money, and the general public's acceptence and dependence of government programs.

If the average citizen in the US thought about every person they really know, not just acquaintances, but people that they truly know and understand (you, your parents, siblings, spouse, children, closest friends), just think about all those people and how much they will pay in taxes over the course of thier lives. Now think about the fact that the goverment will lose all of that money through either graft, corruption or inefficiency during your life. Kinda sad to think about isn't it. Now people are going to ask me for the facts and figures to back this up, and I don't have them. But if you think about how small this amount is compared to the overall spending of our government it doesn't seem so far fetched does it? But how much of a difference would it make in your life if that cost was gone
:igor:

I come from a country where we pay between 38 - 64 % in income tax, depending on your income, and on top of that have 25% salestax on all goods

- so i don't realy know what to say or vote, it would have to be a god damn massive sales tax :rolleyes:

Stefan, 22, Denmark

But you or any immigrant have access to several 'benefits'...

yeah, we have massive benefits which somewhat evens things out

- Free education, on University we only have to pay for books, no tuition fees, we even get 500 USD/month grant from the goverment so we don't end up with big depths for taking a education

- It's free to go to doctors and hospitals, and you receive help for buying medicin

- unemployment benefits, you get 70% of the minimum salary each month

- public pension fund

Offcourse the system has it's flaws, but i think it's the best system i've seen anywhere, a nice mix between Captitalism and Socialism, to a great extend we get the best of both worlds....

I allways seem to get in arguements about this with dedicated capitalists - i believe this is the only way, you have a society where your social herritage doesn't dictate what your life should be.
In the US it's my impression that you should either have parents that can afford money to set up an education fund for you, or you have to be good at sports, to get the education you dream about....

And who do you suppose buys more? The rich or the poor? One way or another, the "rich" are paying more for taxes.

Yes, I know, but for me it is the principle behind what they are taxing. One earning money is good, but one wasting money is not good. I think taxing based on what you spend will cause people to be more careful with there money and not spend it on frivolous crap unless they want to and have the money. I know many people who have spent a lot of money on crap that they never use. This could help put an end to it.