Yep. In Poland, taxes that come on roads, police, army etc cover maximum up to 15% of what we pay today.

But don't try reasoning with slaves, stoicsentry. A slave must first realize that he is slave, then, that being a slave isn't good, and then we may talk about liberty.

yeah, because private corporations will go out of their way to provide each and every home with electricity, water and phone lines, just like private transportation companies make sure each and every village has access to public transportation, right? yeah...

get out of here with your BS political labels from 60 years ago.

you know you need a few more debating classes when all you can come up with are archaic labels and insults.

Fred, lol. I have phone from private company, I travel with private company buses, and have electricity provided by private company in 2,000 people village since 1995. Damn capitalists, are opressing me!

Most tax money goes to social benefits (unemployment, medical care, pension etc.)

And I consider this a good thing, because in my believes a society should be judged on how they treat their weakest. Heck, I'm still in church as a die hard atheist because my church tax goes mostly towards social institutions.

Please stop quoting Carcetti from The Wire, we know he was a scumbag :P

ps. It is proved (and Nobelized, as I know) that the higher unemployement benefits are, the higher uneployement rate is. The more you pay them, the more unempl. rate is raising. It's self-destructive mechanism and should be stopped.

Also, "unemployement fighting" authorities will never do anything to eliminate the problem of high unempl. rate , because they would loose their jobs afterwards.

Oh my, Europeans sure do love their taxes! Heheh. What is a Church tax? You mean a tithe? Or does the government actually force you to pay for Churches? :confused:

Yep, gov. forces us to pay for churches. In Poland, even if you're not a member of any church, around 3 billion PLN are transferred to different church organisations (mostly to catholic church) every year.

If you're a priest, you don't need to pay for your social and health insurance, because gov. is paying it for you with taxes money. Funny, isn't it?

Some people don't know when to stop, Mr. Reid?

LOL! The moment I saw your post I decided not to read the article.

They do here in Germany too, but if you declare yourself to be with no government-registered denomination (which basically comes down to the Lutheran Church or the Catholic Church) then you're exempted from paying church tax. If you declare yourself as "no religion", Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Baptist and so on, the state won't deduct it from your taxes. Instead, the religious authority for that given religion collects it.

Start telling somebody that the chinese government treats people badly and your chances to repatriate will sink enormously. However pirating and porn should be okay.

That's what my chinese friend here told me.

Unfortunatelly, in Poland everyone pays taxes for church, no matter what..(indirectly, there's no direct church tax, but church is donated partially from VAT, partially from income tax, and so on)

ps. Trilarion, what's wrong with porn? edit: oh, I think i misunderstood your point.

Just realised that I've been mildly ninja'd by SimonG there.

Anyway, most Europeans don't really have a problem with higher taxes, just as long as those taxes are well-spent. I'd personally have my taxes go towards funding more effective emergency services, reasonable welfare programs, decent civil services and so on, because honestly, you never know when you're going to need them.

I've heard people whinge and complain here in Germany about high taxes and how they're effectively financing the bottom-feeders in this country, and if I'm honest, the government doesn't really do enough against them, but the fact of the matter is that it is this system that helps the honest ones get back on their feet. Getting back on your feet in the United States is a very hard prospect indeed unless you have certain entreprenieurial capacities.

I pay a five-figure sum in income tax each year and you know what? I don't care. I've been on unemployment benefit, I've been on Hartz IV, and I am where I am now because the state uses those taxes to help people like me get back on their feet and earning again.

No, I like what your former president liked to call the "Great Society". Equality, liberty and social concience and all that. But I guess you are one of those people that cheered "let him die" at the presidential debate. Disgusting if you ask me. But ignorance and egomania seem to be en vogue in the US today.