Certainly US republicans want to make people angry about taxes

Everyone should be angry about taxes. We work our ass off and. so much of it is eaten up by taxes.

Exactly

I agree tangentially with the sentiment—specifically in the US, we should be judicious about how our money is taken and used.

Not because we work our asses off, rather because it’s our duty as electorates (not to mention general good practice to watch your finances).

Spending is the issue, complaining about taxes in isolation is just silly.

The focus on taxes is just a smoke screen so you don’t need to offend anyone by suggesting you actually cut spending on say national defense, GPS, weather forecasting, etc etc.

If you actually want lower taxes propose specific spending cuts. Let’s get rid of police and prisons and then see what happens, or no how about…

The recent surge of inflation is in the double digits, exceeding most state taxes while solely funneling money to the rich.

Taxes and the governments they support are still a huge net benefit. You can quibble about kinds of spending but then you’re going to offend someone who wants that spending thus the silly focus on taxes. Can’t cut police because people want that, can’t remove GPS, can’t cut veterans benefits, can’t…

But hey leaching off other people is a time honored tradition.

Parent comment was talking about VAT taxes in the EU and you're harping on libertarians and republicans in the US? Strange

I generally assume when people say VAT in a general context they also mean sales tax (and the reverse)

I read the original comment as it didn’t make sense that prices in the US aren’t inclusive of taxes.

It’s less about harping on political ideologies and instead provided rationale as to why US prices aren’t transparent.

The commenter who brought up Sales tax variations is partially correct, and the lack of political will to adopt a progressive consumption tax is also partially to blame.

I think both can be good. We should know how much of a purchase is tax. We should also know upfront. I also think it's okay to question if a tax rate is appropriate and if the money already being taken for tax purposes is being spent well.