Infrastructure bill cryptocurrency surveillance provision is a privacy disaster

Re:Infrastructure bill cryptocurrency surveillance provision... by ypcx on Wednesday August 04, 2021 @03:15AM (#28058188)

The imagination then continues -- the users of this cryptocurrency-based break-away economy then establish a voluntary tax system, where each user sends crypto to the address/wallet belonging to the respective part of the government they want to see stronger/they agree with their direction -- e.g. firemen, army, roads. The address of an entity e.g. army could further be separated by policies e.g. defence vs foreign missions. It would also be customary to publicly advertise one's own tax contributions source address (which then can be easily expanded to all addresses this address has contributed to). In other words, for the first time in history, we'd have an actual democracy.

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Re:Infrastructure bill cryptocurrency surveillance provision... by toss1 on Wednesday August 04, 2021 @08:35AM (#28060255)

Yeah, right, the same trope that 'we don't need taxes on the rich (e.g., progressive rates, wealth taxes, etc.), because they can just donate any time they like.

Meanwhile, in the real world, without such wealth taxes, the problem is not' how do we accept all these donations and what do we do with the surpluses?'. The problem is that the wealthy spend enormous sums both capturing regulators to minimize tax, setting up legal structures to avoid tax (trusts, corps, etc.), and setting up outright illegal global tax evasion schemes.

What you propose does not even work on the scale of a condo building. That Miami building that collapsed couldn't even get agreement for years in time to expedite critical repairs, and it killed like half the residents.

Even myself, I'm proud to pay my taxes, understand that in every large complex endeavor or system there will be significant things that can be called out as 'waste', yet I also take advantage of every tax break my accountant recommends.

Enjoy your fantasies, and let us know when you are interested in joining the real world.

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Re:Infrastructure bill cryptocurrency surveillance provision... by leppr on Wednesday August 04, 2021 @07:52AM (#28059892)

That sounds great in theory, but how would you properly fund foreign interventions, the war on drugs, dragnet surveillance, bailouts, anti-competitive corporate regulations, and other unpopular policies if nobody is willing to pay for it?

That's why bundling taxes in a few non-optional packages is so important. Otherwise people will try to selfishly evade paying for services they believe they don't need, and needlessly pry into public finances despite having no expertise in it.

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