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IRS collects milestone $1B in back taxes from high-wealth taxpayers

(apnews.com)
95 points gmays | 4 comments | 27 Jul 24 02:48 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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anon291 ◴[27 Jul 24 04:59 UTC] No.41084545[source]▶
Okay... That'll fund like what.. An hour of governance?

Why more Americans Are not mad at the complete waste of our tax money is beyond me

For a billion dollars, other countries are successfully building entire transit systems, high speed rails, other infrastructure, or running massive welfare programs.

We should be getting so much more.

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s1artibartfast ◴[27 Jul 24 06:36 UTC] No.41084828[source]▶
It is extremely clear why when you look at the outlays. [1] 75%+ of revenue is spent on welfare of various kinds.

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/59727

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bobmcnamara ◴[27 Jul 24 07:04 UTC] No.41084933[source]▶
Where are you seeing that? Or are you counting taxpayer funded and taxpayer paying programs as welfare?
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s1artibartfast ◴[27 Jul 24 14:05 UTC] No.41086681[source]▶
im counting everything. If the question is "what do we get for 4.5 trillion in taxes, and 6 trillion is spending", the answer is largely "welfare programs".
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1. merrywhether ◴[27 Jul 24 18:54 UTC] No.41088525[source]▶
Isn’t anything a government does ostensibly classified as working to improve collective welfare? That’s the basis of the social contract.
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2. s1artibartfast ◴[27 Jul 24 19:19 UTC] No.41088669[source]▶
"welfare" [1] is generally a distinct concept from "public goods" [2]

Welfare is typically ment to mean policies to alleviate the hardships of poverty. These can be wealth transfers or socialized insurance policies to reduce the variability of outcomes.

Public goods are services like roads, courts, or firemen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_good_(economics)

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3. anon291 ◴[28 Jul 24 14:45 UTC] No.41093507[source]▶
In that case, neither Social Security and Medicare are welfare. Social Security is given to everyone regardless of income; so is Medicare.
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4. s1artibartfast ◴[28 Jul 24 18:13 UTC] No.41094899{3}[source]▶
Both are tools where the point is to prevent poverty.

Compulsory and universal participation are the methods used to achieve this goal.