A cool guide to total tax burden by state
A cool guide to total tax burden by state
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Taxes aren't a burden. They are an easy way to pay for the things we all use like roads, public services, parks, and the infrastructure to run it all.
Calling taxes a "burden" plants the idea that taxes have no use and are unfair. Taxes are only as fair as the people make them - vote.
When I moved from FL to MD I immediately noticed that there were a lot of services paid for. Like parks, schools, and other things that made life better. I'd rather pay for things than not have them.
I think I'm gonna name MD America's official most forgettable state.
I'm not American so obviously there's not particularly important reason for me to be able to name all 50 states, but with the aid of this chart I could get all the way to 48. I dunno if I placed them all correctly (who could possibly know if "ME" and "MA" refer to Massachusetts and Maine respectively, or inversely, and unlike MO, which devoid of the context of the full map I might've guessed was Montana, these two don't have geography to help out, being right next to each other), but even with a map and the abbreviations, I can't for the life of me figure out MD.
Or MN, while I'm at it. But for some reason that one feels like one I'll be slightly more embarrassed to have forgotten if I looked it up.
Yeah but you probably didn’t forget about Baltimore. I’d argue Arkansas or Rhode Island is most forgettable, well I would if I didn’t get reminded of Delaware after remembering these states. It’s not big enough to matter. It’s first but so what. I couldn’t tell you a single city in it or fact about it except that it’s first and in the northeast fucking somewhere. If you left it off a map of the United States and just included it in whatever state it’s next to who would really notice? I assume I’ve been there, but I have to assume so because for the life of me I can’t fucking remember.
Arkansas is definitely not forgettable, if only because it's just Ar+Kansas with a ludicrous pronunciation. It'd be a bit like getting Virginia but not West Virginia.
Rhode Island isn't forgettable for me at least, partly just because "it's got island in its name but mostly isn't an island" is a fun bit of trivia, and also because of pop culture things like Miss Congeniality, or that Providence judge who's popular on YouTube.
Baltimore is a city that I recognise the name of, but couldn't have told you what state it's in without looking it up. It's also not in that top tier of famous cities I would have banned if asked to name cities, like NYC, Vegas, and Austin. I might have gotten to it eventually, but that's only a maybe.
Delaware I think you're probably right. I probably wouldn't remember it without the prompting of both the letters and the map. Just the map alone and it'd have no chance of getting it. I'd maybe get it from just the abbreviations. But as it was, I did get it, which is better than I did for Maryland. As for Delaware facts…it has an eponymous river, right? I definitely can't give many facts about it.
Oh yeah some west coast state crossed the Delaware River at one point.
I don't agree with your interpretation of the word 'burden.' A burden doesn't have to be useless or unfair. A burden can be carried with pride and purpose or a burden can be can be oppressive and demeaning or it can be anywhere in between.
Taxes are also purposefully unfair. Fair would be taxes distributed equally amongst those who benefit from their expenditure. Instead, the cost of supporting society is distributed based on ones ability to bear it.
I actually completely agree with your first paragraph about the definition of burden. I think anything which places a cost on you is fair to call a burden, even if it's one that greatly benefits society or even yourself personally in the long run.
But your second paragraph is nonsense. There's nothing fair about a flat tax. Flat taxes place a greater burden on the lowest income, because they tend to spend a higher percentage of their income and save less, simply due to necessities being a higher percentage of their income. A flat tax completely ignores this fact.
A fair society is one on which the more you earn, the more you give back. Because you can give back more without it causing you significant extra burden.
The first paragraph is important because of this way of defining what is fair. The fact that we can accept that tax is still a burden means we can explain what is a fair tax by trying to minimise the cumulative burden on taxpayers while maximising the amount of tax brought in.
I think there is a miscommunication between both comments here on 'fair'. Here is what I interpreted-
Taxes are never fair in the sense that one poor person will put in a penny, one middle person will put in a dollar, and one rich person will put in 1.99 and they will each receive 1 dollar back in services. This was only fair to one person of the 3, beneficially unfair to one, and penalizing unfair to another. But by paying what each was ably to pay society as a whole has been invested in 3 more dollars and no person was asked to pay outside their means.
I am not taking sides in this, just conveying the thought that 'fair' taxes can have multiple meanings and not just automatically jump to flat taxes.
Equality vs. equity. It may not be equal, but it is equitable. Some people don't think that is fair.
No I understood what they meant. I just completely reject the notion that that is in any way fair.