Also, philanthropy isn't a solution to systemic problems. It tends to focus dollars on the 'prettiest' problems -- it's not super attractive to donate to, e.g., portable toilet facilities. Aid programs ensure we're covering everything, including the ugly (or out of sight) problems.
I don’t see why this has to be true. I’m also not going to sacrifice my resources and be competitively disadvantaged because other people don’t want to pay taxes. I’m going to continue trying to vote for a government that reduces the wealth/income gap, but until the collective decides it and works toward it, it behooves me and my kids to play the game individually.
Ergo, we uncover the unethical basis of such position.
If your private life conflicts with your intellectual opinion, it cancels your intellectual ideas, not your private life.
and
If your private actions do not generalize then you cannot have general ideas
People keep claiming that they're in favor of that. In fact, ~50% of the U.S. population votes Democrat, so we should be able to extrapolate that ~50% of the U.S. population supports an additional "feed the hungry" tax. However, if they were truly being honest, they could easily donate 10-15% of their own income to food banks/red cross/etc. which would actually be vastly more effective in assuaging poverty than a tax increase, even if only Democrats participated. The fact that I don't see that being done makes me question the validity of those suggestions.