Are taxes as good as charity? (1 Viewer)

[RobertU]

Our taxes help the poor and unfortunate through such government programs as Medicaid, housing subsidies, food stamps, disaster relief and Aid to Families with Dependent Children.

If you feel a moral obligation to help the poor, have you done enough already by just paying taxes? Why give to charity?

 

[OrphanSlug]

opcorn2: (Pull up a chair my friends, I made extra popcorn for this one.)

 

[longview]

Our taxes help the poor and unfortunate through such government programs as Medicaid, housing subsidies, food stamps, disaster relief and Aid to Families with Dependent Children.

If you feel a moral obligation to help the poor, have you done enough already by just paying taxes? Why give to charity?

I think charity is about what it does for yourself, coerced giving is not really giving as you are required to do so.
Also Taxes always have overhead, and you have little choice about their efficacy or use.

 

[ttwtt78640]

Our taxes help the poor and unfortunate through such government programs as Medicaid, housing subsidies, food stamps, disaster relief and Aid to Families with Dependent Children.

If you feel a moral obligation to help the poor, have you done enough already by just paying taxes? Why give to charity?

Paying taxes is mandatory while donating to charity is voluntary. Since the "obligations" differ they are not synonymous. Those who try to assert that they "gave it the office" (by paying income taxes through withholding?) and therefore were being charitable are simply liars - they did not volunteer to help the poor in any way.

 

[haymarket]

opcorn2: (Pull up a chair my friends, I made extra popcorn for this one.)

Butter?

 

[Risky Thicket]

Our taxes help the poor and unfortunate through such government programs as Medicaid, housing subsidies, food stamps, disaster relief and Aid to Families with Dependent Children.

If you feel a moral obligation to help the poor, have you done enough already by just paying taxes? Why give to charity?

Apples and oranges. They aren't the same thing. Government social services and charities are structured differently, funded differently, staffed differently and often have different missions. Both are needed.

 

[RobertU]

I think charity is about what it does for yourself, coerced giving is not really giving as you are required to do so.
Also Taxes always have overhead, and you have little choice about their efficacy or use.

Charities also have overhead costs.

some are woefully inefficient at channeling donations to the people they're supposed to help.

Source: https://www.thestreet.com/story/12806198/1/20-worst-charities-america.html

If you are poor, what is relevant is how effective is the assistance, not where it came from or whether it was compulsory or voluntary.
It seems a lot of medical-related charities would become obsolete if we had universal health care.

Unless you are sitting on the governing board of a charity, you have little say in how the money is used.

 

[longview]

Charities also have overhead costs.

some are woefully inefficient at channeling donations to the people they're supposed to help.

Source: https://www.thestreet.com/story/12806198/1/20-worst-charities-america.html

If you are poor, what is relevant is how effective is the assistance, not where it came from or whether it was compulsory or voluntary.
It seems a lot of medical-related charities would become obsolete if we had universal health care.

Unless you are sitting on the governing board of a charity, you have little say in how the money is used.

Charities do have overhead cost, but you get to choose which one get your patronage,
The government through taxes gives no such choice.
You do not get to choose what the charity spends the money on, except through your choice of charity,
again something the government does not allow.

 

[RobertU]

Charities do have overhead cost, but you get to choose which one get your patronage,
The government through taxes gives no such choice.
You do not get to choose what the charity spends the money on, except through your choice of charity,
again something the government does not allow.

But you choose the politicians who choose how the money is spent. How is that not "choice"?

 

[longview]

But you choose the politicians who choose how the money is spent. How is that not "choice"?

Too many degrees of separation to effect a choice.
For a charity, I can select a local one that I can observe first hand how they spend their monies.
A local Boy Scout Troop, for example, or a local Habitat for Humanity, where you can both donate and participate.

 

[jaeger19]

Our taxes help the poor and unfortunate through such government programs as Medicaid, housing subsidies, food stamps, disaster relief and Aid to Families with Dependent Children.

If you feel a moral obligation to help the poor, have you done enough already by just paying taxes? Why give to charity?

Both are needed.

Government taxes for the poor and unfortunate are necessary for a safety net particularly in places where the population in general is poor or there is little charity.

Charity.. especially local charity.. can fund certain local needs that a government cannot.