# What rights would you give up in exchange for lower taxes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 4, 2008, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rights-would-you-give-up-in-exchange-for-lower-taxes/471145 "2008-11-04T21:19:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rights-would-you-give-up-in-exchange-for-lower-taxes/471145/21 "2008-11-05T04:32:23Z")
I don’t want to give up any of my rights for lower taxes. In fact, I’m looking forward to getting some of our rights back. I’m OK with reasonable taxes. What do you think the world would be like if our society tried to exist without taxes? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rights-would-you-give-up-in-exchange-for-lower-taxes/471145/22 "2008-11-05T05:47:41Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > I object to surrendering any rights. Taxes should be low, government should be small and as minimally intrusive into private lives as possible. This is why I don’t particularly like either McCain or Obama. I second that. McCain was running as a liberal Democrat. It was like voting for either spend or spend more. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rights-would-you-give-up-in-exchange-for-lower-taxes/471145/23 "2008-11-05T05:59:59Z")
If you want the services ,you have to pay for them. Taxes is how it is done. I was raised believing a graduated income tax was the best system. Now I am not so sure. The corporations and the wealthy make the rules . The rules allow them to avoid paying their share. It is probably what most of us would do if we could. A flat tax would force them to pay something. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rights-would-you-give-up-in-exchange-for-lower-taxes/471145/24 "2008-11-05T06:14:50Z")
Do you really think lower taxes is a good idea? I understand the idea of a boost to the economy but,our national debt is a boat anchor. We are giving trillions to financial institutions. Where is this money coming from. The war was unfunded. It takes 12 million a month. Something has to be done. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rights-would-you-give-up-in-exchange-for-lower-taxes/471145/25 "2008-11-05T06:29:24Z")
none, however the examples cited in the OP are kind of a gamble, how much will they really affect abortion, gay people etc vs money > [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > I’d like to give up the so-called Right of Privacy established under Roe v. Wade, because I there appears to be no actual privacy right it gives me. I would give up my right to speedy trial, because these days you’re better off grinding the justice system down for decades. 😃 Tell it to the boys in Guantanamo; you want to spend 12 years in the joint _before_ you’re tried? ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rights-would-you-give-up-in-exchange-for-lower-taxes/471145/26 "2008-11-05T06:33:38Z")
I’d give up the right of free speech for lower taxes and more money. It might make a conundrum on the idea that giving money to candidates is free speech. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rights-would-you-give-up-in-exchange-for-lower-taxes/471145/27 "2008-11-05T06:39:53Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I want a party that’s low-tax, pro-gay, pro-gun, pro-military, anti-war, pro-science, and rabid in their defense of civil liberties. Try finding that on a ballot. Not to snark, but if you’re pro-science you must also favor mathematics - and policy analysis. That low-tax/pro-military shtick leaves something out. Do you want higher long term budget deficits? If not, what’s your spending cut plan? Don’t say earmarking (at least in this context): that’s a trivial and dubious part of the story. With all due respect, I expect politicians to promise something for nothing. But we should hold pundits and SDMB posters to a higher standard. Why not? We Dems will be busy for the next few years. But moderate and reasonable conservatives have a bigger problem – they have figure out a platform that is consistent with both conservative temperament and empirical reality. There is a conceptual problem to be dealt with. The task is not impossible. After all, the Dems had their struggle in the wilderness from ~1984-1992 and in the end were stronger for it. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rights-would-you-give-up-in-exchange-for-lower-taxes/471145/28 "2008-11-05T14:54:23Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Not to snark, but if you’re pro-science you must also favor mathematics - and policy analysis. > > That low-tax/pro-military shtick leaves something out. Do you want higher long term budget deficits? If not, what’s your spending cut plan? Don’t say earmarking (at least in this context): that’s a trivial and dubious part of the story. > > With all due respect, I expect politicians to promise something for nothing. But we should hold pundits and SDMB posters to a higher standard. Why not? I should have said moderately low taxes. I’m not irrationally against taxation. If I was, what I said would look a lot like the Libertarian Party platform. I believe in funding education and a few other mainstream ideas that they’re too stubborn to come around to. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rights-would-you-give-up-in-exchange-for-lower-taxes/471145/29 "2008-11-05T15:40:39Z")
And what about the concept I posted above, **Cisco**? So you’re for education, and are willing to pay taxes to support it, but I don’t have kids of schoolage anymore and the whole society can go hang, so I want the Department of Education and my local school board disbanded. But I’m willing to pay heavy duty taxes to support 12-lane highways between my home state and the state I go to vacation in. One of us is going to be unhappy paying taxes to support the other’s preference–why should it be me? ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rights-would-you-give-up-in-exchange-for-lower-taxes/471145/30 "2008-11-05T16:32:56Z")
Those that would give up an essential liberty to obtain a temporary safety (or tax cut) deserve neither liberty nor safety (nor a tax cut). ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rights-would-you-give-up-in-exchange-for-lower-taxes/471145/31 "2008-11-05T19:08:38Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > And what about the concept I posted above, **Cisco**? So you’re for education, and are willing to pay taxes to support it, but I don’t have kids of schoolage anymore and the whole society can go hang, so I want the Department of Education and my local school board disbanded. But I’m willing to pay heavy duty taxes to support 12-lane highways between my home state and the state I go to vacation in. > > One of us is going to be unhappy paying taxes to support the other’s preference–why should it be me? Because education benefits society as a whole, not just those who get educated. The 12-lane road only helps a small group and might have a lot of negative effects too. Just because you think society can go hang doesn’t mean you don’t have to be part of it; just because you don’t like a law doesn’t mean you don’t have to follow it. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rights-would-you-give-up-in-exchange-for-lower-taxes/471145/32 "2008-11-05T19:20:12Z")
But that’s just your opinion. I might agree with your opinion in this case, but hypothetically if I don’t, then I’m pissed that I’m spending my tax money on stupid crap that I don;t feel I happen to need, while I’m not getting stuff that I happen to think that I do. My point is that I have to learn to live with tax money being spent on stuff I disapprove of, and focussing my attention on very specific places that I feel it’s being wasted. Just taking a position that “Tax money should go to stuff I personally approve of” misses the point of being a tax-payer in a federal society. There’s ALWAYS stuff that selfish, narrow-minded people can resent without needing to specify exactly the project that bothers them the most, and working on addressing that specific problem. Just bitching that tax money is being spent is the occupation of a professonal crank. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rights-would-you-give-up-in-exchange-for-lower-taxes/471145/33 "2008-11-05T19:22:03Z")
I don’t want lower taxes. And I don’t want the right to own a gun. I’ll give that up gladly even without getting lower taxes in return. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rights-would-you-give-up-in-exchange-for-lower-taxes/471145/34 "2008-11-05T19:46:55Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > But that’s just your opinion. What else is politics? Democracy, Communism, Monarchies . . . all someone’s opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rights-would-you-give-up-in-exchange-for-lower-taxes/471145/35 "2008-11-05T20:14:26Z")
None. Taxes are substantially too low already. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rights-would-you-give-up-in-exchange-for-lower-taxes/471145/36 "2008-11-05T20:16:06Z")
I consider paying taxes to be my patriotic duty. And I want mine to be higher. So, no, I wouldn’t give up any rights at all in exchange for a tax cut. The very idea strikes me as un-American. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rights-would-you-give-up-in-exchange-for-lower-taxes/471145/37 "2008-11-05T20:29:12Z")
> [@Pochacco](#): > > I consider paying taxes to be my patriotic duty. And I want mine to be higher. Then pay more. I’m sure the government isn’t going to complain. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rights-would-you-give-up-in-exchange-for-lower-taxes/471145/38 "2008-11-05T22:32:23Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > Then pay more. I’m sure the government isn’t going to complain. **Doing your duty** means shouldering your allotted share of the burden, not playing the hero or the martyr. I’m proud of my country and I want it to accomplish great things. And I am happy to contribute my fair share to the effort. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rights-would-you-give-up-in-exchange-for-lower-taxes/471145/39 "2008-11-05T23:37:43Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > What else is politics? I don’t know…policies, maybe? Sound rational argument, perhaps? Persuasive consensus building? I don’t mean this as a personal insult, honestly, but anyone who actually believes that all politics is nothing but personal, whimsical, unsubstantiated opinion doesn’t understand what the word means. ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rights-would-you-give-up-in-exchange-for-lower-taxes/471145/40 "2008-11-05T23:56:52Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > I don’t know…policies, maybe? Sound rational argument, perhaps? Persuasive consensus building? I don’t mean this as a personal insult, honestly, but anyone who actually believes that all politics is nothing but personal, whimsical, unsubstantiated opinion doesn’t understand what the word means. Or has been watching US politicians for too long 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rights-would-you-give-up-in-exchange-for-lower-taxes/471145.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rights-would-you-give-up-in-exchange-for-lower-taxes/471145.md?page=3)