How taxes are collected and spent can be a contentious topic. In your opinion, what should our tax dollars be spent on?
Opinions on taxation vary quite widely. At one extreme are people who would prefer to eliminate taxation completely. Others would like to drastically increase taxes, particularly on wealthy individuals, in order to fund community services.
Some of the services that are typically under the federal purview are infrastructure projects, including highways, bridges, airports and shipping ports. Basically, if a structure or system spans different states, or is too large for any one state to fund and manage, the federal government gets involved.
Similarly, taxes typically pay for defense, including various military services, weapons systems, and the like. These are used for defending the entire country from outside threats. Spending on national defense can vary quite widely from country to country.
Health care is another area where taxes can be spent. The percentage of people covered and the quality of care can make the spending differ drastically.
Foreign aid, scientific research, food inspection, disease prevention, disaster recovery, and management of public lands are also common spending targets.
As tax revenue goes down, spending should also decrease. While collecting taxes is unpopular, elimination or reduction of services is also unpopular. Managing both the rate at which money comes in and goes out is a difficult balance, and rising deficits show that it is difficult to maintain.
How should our taxes be collected and distributed? Do we take in too much, or too little? What about spending? Is there a general philosophy regarding what we should collectively fund?
Related questions: What are our responsibilities to others? What role should government play in our lives? What is the purpose of money? What does the government do that wouldn’t be done otherwise?