Re:A few months ago, a complete stranger gave me $10k (2021)
by robocat on Wednesday September 07, 2022 @04:54PM
(#32756689)
> people can allocate money better than governments
Maybe for quotidian expenses. But absolutely not for many long term expenses and risks.
My New Zealand government is pretty good at allocating money for common infrastructure and for people’s long-term costs (retirement, healthcare, benefit of education). Most infrastructure wouldn’t happen if we could avoid paying for it as individuals - fairly provable by comparing between countries that have good and poor infrastructure. We all see how much taxation costs us, but too many people deny/unsee the value of the massive benefits we all accrue.
The other aspect that governments can do is to manage risk and insurance, for rare events, which in my experience most people are extremely poor at planning for. When my city Christchurch was hit in 2010 by a devastating earthquake, everyone has the opportunity to see the value of the infrastructure that they lost (destroyed/damaged), and the opportunity to see the value of belonging to a society that fixes our infrastructure.
Also taxation shares the costs between the financial winners and the losers. We tax those that have benefited financially from belonging to a healthy society (people don’t “make” money, their society provides them with their opportunity and the safety to enjoy their gains), and we pay those that screw up (poorly paid job) or have bad luck (lose the genetic lottery, illness etcetera). This is easy to see: take someone who is well off (made themselves) and move them with nothing to a shitty country and see if they rebound: most people would not do well. Cue foreigners with degrees driving taxis.
Maybe for quotidian expenses. But absolutely not for many long term expenses and risks.
My New Zealand government is pretty good at allocating money for common infrastructure and for people’s long-term costs (retirement, healthcare, benefit of education). Most infrastructure wouldn’t happen if we could avoid paying for it as individuals - fairly provable by comparing between countries that have good and poor infrastructure. We all see how much taxation costs us, but too many people deny/unsee the value of the massive benefits we all accrue.
The other aspect that governments can do is to manage risk and insurance, for rare events, which in my experience most people are extremely poor at planning for. When my city Christchurch was hit in 2010 by a devastating earthquake, everyone has the opportunity to see the value of the infrastructure that they lost (destroyed/damaged), and the opportunity to see the value of belonging to a society that fixes our infrastructure.
Also taxation shares the costs between the financial winners and the losers. We tax those that have benefited financially from belonging to a healthy society (people don’t “make” money, their society provides them with their opportunity and the safety to enjoy their gains), and we pay those that screw up (poorly paid job) or have bad luck (lose the genetic lottery, illness etcetera). This is easy to see: take someone who is well off (made themselves) and move them with nothing to a shitty country and see if they rebound: most people would not do well. Cue foreigners with degrees driving taxis.