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Originally Posted by MariconesUnited  Been following your back and forth with Aelle. It seems to me that you have a problem with the profit motive itself. I've struggled with the concept myself. I think we need to remember that the profit motive isn't inherently exclusive to providing value to society. In fact they often go hand-in-hand. Just because the intention is to maximize profit does not mean that one is not providing value to society. |
I'll admit, that I've harbored resentment in the past towards those whose
motive is profit (which indicates selfishness to me), but I'm working on that, and easing up, as such a motive is often accompanied by a motive to simply survive and function in the world. However, I still have to get over the hipocrisy of those (and I've known a few) who, on the one hand,
claim they're "providing value", while in truth, they're just in it for the buck, as witnessed by their actions. Honestly, I have more respect for one who admits unabashedly that they're just in it for the buck. At least they're not hipocrits.
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At first I didn't get what you were saying here. But then I realized over here (Canada) we have a national sales tax. You guys don't. And yet, I still don't understand how taxing financial transactions would be unfair. There's some sort of tax on products everywhere in the US no? They go to each individual State I presume? This would mean that everyone pays taxes on transactions. Except traders. Which would mean the current situation is unfair.
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Granted, 45 of the 50 states (plus D.C.) have a sales tax. Some states tax everything--property, income,
and sales. Add to that all the federal taxation, and it's no surprise that a lot of Americans feel they're already taxed to death.
That said, I think it's ironic that the U.S. has the taxation it does, though it was founded by men who asserted that "the power to tax is the power to destroy", and clamored "no taxation without representation".
In any event, rather than add another tax, I, personally, am more the advocate for simplification. The tax code is already so complex as to be nearly unintelligible, and so I think the last thing we need is
another tax (or, for that matter, another "deduction" or "incentive"). Throw the whole thing out, I say, and let's start from scratch.
Not that I expect that to happen anytime soon.