Excellent question.

I lean quite heavily myself.

In more ways than one though ;)

The most legitimate tax I see is one that citizens would cheerfully pay willingly under any economic conditions.

ALL citizens, or informed / educated citizens? There's a whole network of agitators in the US whose entire job / goal is to make sure there are people unhappy with any tax, no matter how great the benefits.

	▲	fuzzfactor 9 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Good question. Citizens still need to come to some consensus. One key feature I didn't emphasize was the requirement for the tax rate to never rise to a significant enough level to be a burden on the wage-earning taxpayer. Otherwise it's just a sinkhole which brings down the prosperity ceiling with it.

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hluska 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

If you define legitimacy like that, excise taxes look like the only truly legitimate taxes. In my province, that’s things like gasoline, alcohol, tobacco and cannabis. Provincially owned casinos could even be considered a legitimate form of tax though they’re not really a tax.

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latchkey 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Can you think of one? I was thinking infrastructure, but then I think about all the fraud and waste that goes along with it and it makes me sad.

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hluska 4 hours ago | parent [-]

You don’t really see a lot of positive in the world and that’s an issue.

But that’s irrelevant - excise taxes are the classic example of taxes people pay willingly.

	▲	latchkey 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Oh come on, I didn't say anything like that. sunsets at the beach every night are amazing, and don't cost anything. excise taxes are hidden taxes, so I wouldn't agree with "willingly"

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6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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