We can argue for the sport of it all day, and as much as I enjoy researching Swiss tax rates have to go to work.
They pay less than the US in some income brackets. They still have a government, that government has the power to tax them, and they pay taxes at the national and regional levels. It varies by region. I learned how Swiss taxation policy works today.
Sounds like someone should move to the Swiss utopia! I wish you luck, sir.
In 2017, a single Swiss resident without children paid almost 17% of their gross salary in taxes and social security contributions. The average for OECD countries was 25.5%. Workers in Belgium and Germany were taxed most (around 40%), while those in Chile (7%), Mexico (11%) and South Korea (14.5%) had the lowest total deductions for personal income taxes and social security contributions.
Despite ranking highly in the OECD study, low taxes on Swiss wages must be put into perspective. Tax burdens vary widely depending on which canton and municipality one lives in. Also, an individual is obliged to make compulsory non-state contributions to health insurance or occupational benefits, which are deducted from monthly salaries.
Healthy mistrust of government is good. Healthy mistrust of any institution is good.
What seems unhealthy is blind faith in corporations. Corporations only concern is the bottom line. They have no moral or ethical obligations.
So youre telling me youâoften with good reasonâmistrust government, but you trust Exxon, Big Pharma, Monsanto, to make decisons that will lead to a prosperous society? Do you expext them to regulate themselves? You trust corporations with monoplies and no incentive to relinquish power to make decisons in your interest?
Blind faith in corporate entities is as naive as blind faith in the state. You need a balance.
Now you are making sense @anon96115109, but do you recognize that for the past 30 or 40 years the governments, doesnât matter if right leaning or left leaning have been catering to the needs of corporations at the expense of the people?
Or perhaps you are so locked into the left/right dichotomy and hatred for the right that you donât recognize globalism whose true leaders are led by corporations not governments are the ones that need to have their power checked?
Exactly, I know exactly what corporations are trying to do. Unless youâre one of those people who thinks Proctor and Gamble gives two shit about social issues in Gillette commercials while still charging women more for the same thing they make for men.
They offer things of value, when they donâtâŚwell they go broke. When they are inefficient, they lose to someone more efficient. They donât seize money to function. Government is the opposite.
I dont have any predisposed disdain for the right. If laws are just they are. Nixon was on the right he created the EPA. That was a good move. Trump created a big government initiative to fight thr opioid epidemic. Well done.
Most right wing policies benefit only the very rich at the expense of middle class and poor. There is nothing in them for you. I dont understand your support of them, they are mocking you.
Trump did away with the TPPA, that directly effected me. Plus it was a blatant power shift from Governments to corporations. @ChewDawg would tell you that is a good thing, I disagree for the reasons you already stated.
Peace in this region also directly affects me, China being ever increasingly aggressive in the South China seas and North Korea being ever more belligerent, had me concerned that more of the same from Clinton would do nothing to stop this trend. Trump might end up doing worse but so far in this regard I think heâs doing fine.
Also, although it doesnât affect me directly, what Clinton/Obama and the gang of eight (which includes top Republicans) was wrong in the middle east. They still want to play their geo-political games and with regards Russia, I donât think thatâs a wise game.
I could go on, for many more, I believe very valid reasons. Congratulations, I believe you are the first to actually ask why I supported Trump in nearly 3 years. Everyone else goes with the orangemanbad and then list reasons why he is so bad. Many of which I would agree with and have done so publicly.
Have been in the US in the past decade? It hasnât played out like that at all. Itâs led to monopolies, corporate conglomerates, and a lot of them offer very inefficient crappy products. For example, Comcast is the only act in town you can get cable from in my area. You have to buy these bundled packages filled with all kinds you donât want or need. They have no competition.
If youâve been to Trumpâs Manhattan recently, virtually none of the smaller businesses that used to be part of the city exist anymore. Theyâre all Starbucks, Bank of Americas now. Smaller businesses canât possibly compete with them.
When youâre starting out with a fundamental gap wealth distribution to start with, and then deregulate, how does lead to competition? It eliminates competition leaving you with less options and fewer choices for more money because youâre a captive audience. I donât know if youâve flown a US air carrier lately, but man theyâre horses**t. Youâre lucky if they havenât overbooked your flight, and in some cases (I remember you said you are Asian, correct me if Iâm wrong) youâre lucky if you donât get physically dragged off the plane.
One of the things I love about Taiwan is that there are lots of small family owned businesses. These canât exist in far right big business friendly America.
I donât understand this need to pick a side. You can have certain segments of your economy offered by the governmentâin Taiwanâs case health care is national health careâbut still have a free market economy. They can co-exist together, but this âgovernment is bad not matter what ideologyâ is this false dichotomy. Why buy into that?
There are some things governments can do better than big business. There are some things better left to the private sector. Itâs not one or the other.
Almost every young person I know, including myself have not paid for cable in years. We netflix and online stream live TV. There is competition.
Consumer taste change, I saw many Starbucks closing and saw more and more small artisan roast coffee shops opening up.
Fly jetblue. They donât.
The barrier of entry is really high for airlines, the lack of competition is actually on the gov with high regulations. Not so much of me starting a small craft beer brewery to compete against Budweiser.
Now the gov has no competition pretty much, so they donât always do a good job in maximizing value or efficiency.
If weâre getting technical, it started in the 80âs with Reagan. Deregulation and elimination of government services were the centerpiece of his political strategy and campaign.
Can you expand on what Clinton/Obama did in the Middle East that Bush didnât? I think Obama did great in ME. He contained the situation (created by Bushâs administration) without getting into another direct war.
How did Trump do any better? You think itâs right to renege on an international agreement? Did he fix Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria or Libya? Saudi Arabia literally detained the prime minister of another country and enforced hard sanctions against a bystander because they didnât vote with them in the Gulf Council.
Edit: Lol I forgot about the Khashoggi debacle.
I like when they split up AT&T. No more regulated monopoly!
By contrast, Ozymandias meddled in GMâs bankruptcy to prevent the assets from ending up in various more capable hands, as ordinarily happens in a bankruptcy.
The cable and Internet companies are no more necessary monopolies than Bell Telephone was. They figured out how to have competition in long distance telephone calls, and they can figure out how to have competition in Internet if they want to badly enough. But they donât want to.
