Civilization needs taxes, and high taxes at that

As that wise old guy(Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.) said:

Taxes are the price we pay to live in a civilized society.

There is no Free Lunch. You have to pay if you want to live in a civilized society, there is no other way. Yes, if you want to live in a backward third world country, listen to libertarian and their like, listen to corporations and their cronies and avoid paying taxes. But if you want to live in a country which provides a humane level of services for it's citizens, you can't escape paying taxes. Otherwise, how on earth is that government supposed to pay for health care, public education, good infrastructure, good public transport, child care, etc?

And anyways, being the citizen of a country does not mean it is only that country and that government that is in a contract with you to provide you with services. It means that as a citizen, you have duties towards others too. Part of that duty is paying for the services that are provided for everybody and especially less fortunate members of the society. Unfortunately since the second half of the 20th century, with the "ME" culture, that second part, that duy of me towards others have completely been forgotten and replaced with the "GREED" culture propagated by the corporations.

Taxes are the only equalizer available to a government, otherwise we will witness the huge gaps between poverty and wealth in places like US who has extensively slashed taxes for the wealthy during the past half century. In my trip to New York I was astounded to see homeless people in the ground floor of some of the largest and finest financial buildings in wall street escaping the cold weather outside at winter. It was disgusting to see that the wealthiest city in the world and the heart of the capitalism, where billions and trillions traded hands each day could not provide basic needs of its citizens while a great number of other citizens where living in posh palaces.

tax cuts are good only if you cut taxes of the poor and give them the buying power, cutting the tax of the rich won't contribute much to the market as they already can buy anything they want. to compensate for the tax cuts for the poor you can get a few bucks more from the rich and it won't damage the economy.

A look at the following articles is an eye opener:

http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/172618

http://www.thestar.com/article/185224

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/article/192438