There is no rule of law, then what are we doing here? Why are we playing ball?

Ok, MAGA wants to burn it down. Good for MAGA, they still don’t get to decide for everyone.

I won’t be able to do this for long. Why aren’t we in the streets? What’s so great about your life that authoritarian rule is not a threat to you?

  • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
    42·
    4 hours ago

    If you refuse to pay and convince enough other people to refuse to pay, then well congrats. You just started a revolution.

    Why aren’t we in the streets?

    As someone watching from outside, I seriously have no idea.

  • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
    12·
    3 hours ago

    Honestly - set your paycheck withholding to zero, hope others do the same to defund the government… and when tax day comes next year double check if the IRS still exists before submitting your payment.

    • foggy@lemmy.world
      3·
      46 minutes ago

      100% doing this.

      I’ll be an old man telling 16 year olds to withold 0 and create a savings account for tax day sounding like a depression era grandma telling you to reuse the trash bags.

  • chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world
    63·
    6 hours ago

    You are free to do whatever you want to do, however, there are consequences to your actions. If you believe that the US government will collapse and there will be no one to start garnishing your wages when you don’t report your taxes, then by all means, stop paying them.

    Your reaction is “reactionary”, though. You come across as though you are looking for a reason to not pay taxes, and you think you’ve found one. Instead, you should be looking for ways to correct the problems you see. If you don’t like Musk, then find ways to undermine him. Refusal to pay your taxes isn’t it, though.

      • chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world
        42·
        6 hours ago

        You are giving false equivalency arguments. You are equating Musk’s abilities to some direct link in your taxes, as though the 25% you pay each paycheck is funding him. It isn’t. It is still funding garbage collection, national parks, welfare programs, and other critical infrastructure. Your taxes haven’t started going to new places. They are doing the exact same thing they have always done. You are being reactionary, and it comes off like you are either 15 years old and just learning about taxation, or 55 and learning about Libertarianism. Get a grip on yourself, realise that there is still work to be done, and being an infant about this shit isn’t doing anything but wasting people’s fucking time. If you don’t want to pay taxes, don’t. But don’t lie and say it’s about Musk. It’s selfishness. It’s because you can’t manage what money you have, and you think that little bit extra is going to make a difference. It won’t, though. You’ll still be broke because you spent all your money on weed and black light posters.

        • Tyfud@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          19 minutes ago

          I was with you but if you’re calling out logical fallacies your ad homenims are a little much against the guy, who I agree, sounds 15 or a 55 sovcit.

          The majority of your post is valid though, outside of the personal attacks.

      • distantsounds@lemmy.worldEnglish
        7·
        5 hours ago

        You are not alone. You have the ability to make positive change. If you would wish to have a larger impact, organize, find strength with those in your community and it will grow.

      • kjira@lemmy.todayEnglish
        8·
        6 hours ago

        You’re definitely not the only person proposing your course of action. By the way, it would be silly for me to refrain from filing taxes since I’m likely to get a small refund. From your own reasoning, why would I want the government to keep my money even longer interest free? In that case, I absolutely should file my taxes to take the money away from them.

        ETA: As far as paying taxes in your paycheck, just talk to your employer and change your W-4 to the lowest payout. Your employer is required to withhold some of it for taxes, so talk to your employer if you want to pay absolutely zero on payday (and they will likely say no). Obviously that all varies depending on your employment arrangement, but it generally holds up.

      • thefartographer@lemm.ee
        4·
        6 hours ago

        Because of everyone does the thing with all the might necessary to do it themselves, then together they will do the biggest thing that’s ever been done.

    • NaibofTabr@infosec.pubEnglish
      7·
      6 hours ago

      If you believe that the US government will collapse and there will be no one to start garnishing your wages when you don’t report your taxes, then by all means, stop paying them.

      Of course if that happens your dollars won’t be worth anything anyway.

      Aren’t you glad you held onto them?

      • sexy_peach@feddit.org
        4·
        5 hours ago

        Yes, but also always has been. Times have been bad before and it wasn’t ideal a few years ago either. Keep your head low and push in the right direction, like many good people have done before us.

        • modifier@lemmy.ca
          2·
          4 hours ago

          Your vote for the status quo has been registered, but please note the status quo has been a decade-long continuous slide into fascism, so that is what you will be cosigning by keeping your head down.

          • sexy_peach@feddit.orgEnglish
            1·
            4 hours ago

            blablabla I meant push for good change however you like. Most people aren’t able to throw molotovs.

            • modifier@lemmy.ca
              2·
              4 hours ago

              Push for good change like calling your congress person and complaining? Campaigning for a progressive candidate in the mid-terms?

              If you’re going to pretend for youself like it’s 2016, then just spare us. Your silence would be better than lumping all direct action into throwing molotovs.

              When you dismiss the option set rather than productively try to add to the option set, any rational person would rightfully question your actual intentions.

                • modifier@lemmy.ca
                  1·
                  7 minutes ago

                  Then maybe don’t tell someone who does live here to keep their head down. Especially if you’re from where I think you’re from. You should be exhorting us to learn from your history and to not let this overtake us - because the fascists will have learned from your history as well.

  • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    18·
    6 hours ago

    Does it matter who has the monopoly on violence, if you don’t? Ultimately, you pay taxes because if you refuse to for long enough, burly men with guns will eventually take your stuff and lock you up.

  • marshadow@lemmy.world
    13·
    6 hours ago

    Because not paying your taxes will draw attention from what remains of the system. I’m not thrilled about paying taxes to the dead and looted corpse of our government, but it’s better to stay under the radar.

    • Clinicallydepressedpoochie@lemmy.worldOP
      2·
      6 hours ago

      They can’t put 350 million people in prison. What good is your money in a country of lawlessness? When you pay the thugs to not rob you, what will be left for yourself?

      • artificialfish@programming.devEnglish
        12·
        6 hours ago

        When you get all 350 million people to riot I’ll be on your side. But laying low is a more likely to succeed option. This country has never been fair or politically good. I prepared for this, because I could see it coming.

        I literally pay taxes, that’s paying the thugs not to rob you. It works well in Japan too, their thugs will defend your shop.

        • Clinicallydepressedpoochie@lemmy.worldOP
          5·
          6 hours ago

          I’m not mad at you. I could sit this one out just the as much as the next guy. The fact is injustice is happening right in front of you and if no one stops it, it will find it’s way to you.

  • over_clox@lemmy.world
    4·
    6 hours ago

    Just throw away all your money and live like half the rest of us, broke. If you have no money, you have nothing to tax.

      • over_clox@lemmy.world
        1·
        6 hours ago

        You get a check? Like, those paper payments?

        I haven’t found one bank or establishment that’ll cash any of my former employer’s checks in over a decade. They tell me the companies I worked for aren’t registered as trusted employers/check issuers.

        My past employers all had to cash their own damn checks and hand me cash money. And that’s largely why I quit repairing computers, tablets and phones back in 2017, apparently all the tech companies here are shady, to the point even their own banks don’t trust them.

        Wish I knew what it was like to have an honest employer…

        Edit: I was even denied direct deposit from my own bank. Why? Shit, even the bank manager didn’t know. So I closed my bank account and have been on paper cash money for about a decade. I have no reason to trust banks that won’t even let money be deposited into my account.