# Federal Tax Revenue

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-tax-revenue/685865>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [April 11, 2014, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-tax-revenue/685865 "2014-04-11T11:54:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-tax-revenue/685865/21 "2014-04-17T00:19:56Z")

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I used to manage the schedule for my 8-9 person workgroup. Much simpler than taxes. But it really caused me to think long and hard about the many different kinds of “fair” that can apply to every situation.

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**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-tax-revenue/685865/22 "2014-04-17T02:14:18Z")

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> [@waddlingeagle](#):
>
> Nonsense. What it comes down to is this: Anything that makes OTHER people pay taxes is ‘fair.’ Anything that makes ME pay taxes is ‘unfair.’ You will find this at the base of every argument of whether a tax is fair or not.

Bah. I pay plenty of taxes that are perfectly fair. I have no problem paying my share. Heck, we could afford to pay more; that wouldn’t be unfair. What’s unfair is poor people, who have a lot less than I, having to shoulder a proportionally greater burden than rich people, who have a lot more than I.  
Powers &8^]

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**Author:** ![qazwart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/5fc32e/32.png) [@qazwart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qazwart)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-tax-revenue/685865/23 "2014-04-17T14:49:31Z")

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> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> My tax law professor very wisely once said, “A tax can be simple, or it can be fair. It cannot possibly be both.” A simple tax will hit some people much harder than others, and thus be unfair. A fair tax must take into account all of the differences in taxpayer status, and thus will not be simple.

There is a third possibility of being neither simple nor fair.

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