Fundies and taxes

[Full enough quiver]

Something I've noticed is that fundies (and conservatives in general) like to make a big deal out of what they don't want their tax dollars to pay for. I've heard everything from birth control/abortions, to illegals, to public schools. So, what would FJers not want their tax dollars paying for? What would you like your taxes paying for? I'd like to stop paying for the war in Iraq, and stop paying for politicians' huge salaries. I'm happy to fund help for the poor, and I wish my tax dollars could fund planned parenthood. Let's play fundie and cherry pick where our money should go!

[doggie]

I would like not to pay church taxes

[ILoveJellybeans]

Anything that would benefit people-medical care (including birth control and abortions), welfare, schools and general things like fixing roads and keeping the area clean.

I think politicians should be paid less and the money to go to the poor, and I think war costs too much money and the money could be better used to save lives, not end lives.

[Khan]

I would like to pay for the bare minimum for our politicians. No fancy cars, no salary raises and no paid housing. I support medical care and public works. I would love to see huge businesses lose their tax breaks, too. Wally world makes record profits. They don't need massive tax breaks.

[JesusFightClub]

I'm ex-Revenue (HMRC as it now is) so I am biased :) You can leave the Revenue, but the Revenue doesn't leave you...

Disagree with the principle of "deciding where the taxes go". If you don't like how your taxes are allocated by the government, work to get rid, don't whinge. That aside:

I am not comfortable at the huge crazy slice of our taxes which go on defence. That's £stupidity. I paid for troops to die in Iraq and I don't think we had any business there in the first place. Likewise Cameron trying to bring us into Syria. Because we know from past experience how well interfering cack-handedly in a country we don't fully understand goes :doh:

I am totally happy to pay for foreign aid. We're all global citizens, amirite? What I am less happy about is the use of foreign aid in sweetheart deals for trade. Target it to the people who need help, not to whatever businessman promises you shinies.

Working Tax Credit. No, fuck off. MAKE EMPLOYERS PAY A DECENT WAGE. I am sick of paying to top-up slave labour wages. Make it illegal for business to be subsidised by government. If their business model is so fantastic and Ayn Rand and Horatio Alger and all, it's funny that taxpayers still need to chip in so the workers in question can heat and light their homes and eat.

[Conuly]

I'm okay with paying politicians a reasonable amount (including housing) because I don't want to create a situation where the only way to finance a career in politics is via bribes and kickbacks. It'd be great if they all did it out of a true call towards justice and service, but realistically I want to minimize corruption, and that means paying them a bit more than "the minimum".

I would like to severely reduce our military budget, without dicking over soldiers, veterans, and their families. Encourage them to retire and go into another field, don't just fire them en masse. No more wars for corporations, though.

And on that note, I would like to stop paying for big business! They have all the money, let them pay a fair share! No more cuts and incentives and bonuses for the people making money hand over fist!

I would like people to pay a normalized price for oil. Our gas prices are really heavily subsidized. Pay more for gas, and maybe people will smarten up and demand more pubic transportation and renewable energy.

http://priceofoil.org/fossil-fuel-subsidies/

As for what I want to pay for, people are paramount.

More money in education for smaller classes and better (which invariably means better-paid) teachers. Less money on testing and test prep.

More money on childcare and to enforce paid parental leave for the first year or more after birth.

Money for birth control, health and dental care.

Money to ensure poorer people can feed themselves, and maybe a credit to purchase diapers and child clothes. Those are a huge expense for many families.

Good, healthy school lunches, instead of on the cheap.

More money for prison education and job training, less on privately handling incarceration.

More money towards public transportation.

More money to subsidize college or technical education.

Basically, if its helpful to poor people, I think it is helpful to everybody.

[RosyDaisy]

Not pay for: the huge war machine, big business, religious institutions, legislating what goes on between consenting adults and defining what marriage and family are.

Pay for: universal healthcare, public assistance programs, public education (including college or technical institutes), real sex education, free access to bc, reproductive rights, clean energy, becoming a huge exporter of goods again, ban outsourcing jobs overseas, force employers to pay a fair wage, better treatment of veterans, maintenance of roads, public safety, prison reform, immigration reform, gun control.

That's just my short list.