Hacker News Reader

Comment by Wolfenstein98k | Hacker News Reader

I don't think so.

Low tax advocates want a more streamlined government that looks after core functions (managing trash, police, etc) rather than what it has taken on today (entire multimillion dollar agencies tasked with getting more women into high status jobs, regulation of the size and shape of cabbages, etc)

The idea that "people who want less tax than I do just crave widespread poverty" is a sign you have an ideological brainworm. No one thinks like that.

View on HN

How large percentage of your tax bill do you think goes to getting more women into high status jobs, or regulating the size of cabbages? Whenever I see politicians actually try to lower expenses it always turns out that most money is used on healthcare, schools, police, military, and essential governmen services, and these things are the things that ends up beeing cut, just because that's where the big money goes. Remove all 'get women employed'-projects, and it would probably not make a visible change to your tax percentage at all.

While that may be the case, it is still evidence the government is ideologically captured by activists and willing to spend money on nonsense.

Hard to imagine healthcare is run on a lean, waste-free budget with that sort of stuff.

(Cue discussion about covid rationing involving "equity" considerations, etc)

Without getting into a debate about what the government should or should not do, I just want to point out that it's disingenuous to argue that a relatively large portion of government spending has anything to do with "getting more women into high status jobs" or "regulation of the size and shape of cabbage." The vast majority of what "government has taken on today" (compared to 150 years ago) relates to the social safety net, education, and health care.

> The idea that "people who want less tax than I do just crave widespread poverty" is a sign you have an ideological brainworm. No one thinks like that.

Plenty of people think that. They might not admit it publicly (or even admit the full implications to themselves), but they still think it, and more importantly, try to act on it.

Kindly reread HN guidelines, particularly: Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive.

Name three.

This is just something people believe in your imagination.

Loving the "of cabbages and kings" ring to your comment.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com