What if you never had to pay any taxes again, ever?
Depends on if you mean me personally as an individual, but everyone else had to?
That would be freaking awesome.
I might get some hate mail, though.
It's sure to get out somehow. I mean if I ever work for someone then the accountants are going to see my check.
Plus people might start overcharging me in order to force me to pay what they think is my "fair share," that they have to pay.
If you're asking more along the puerile lines of "what if no one anywhere ever had to pay any taxes again, ever?"
Then it's a silly question.
There will always be taxes.
A lack of taxes does not magically remove the desire for power or control from people, nor the benefit of pooling resources.
At best/worst you'd just get those people that have money, power, influence, those that can wield police or armies, in control, and they'd take what they needed in order to maintain their power and influence.
They'd just not call it taxes. They'd call it preemptive altruism or something.
Without taxes there would be no government.
Sure there would.
That's like saying "without an income, there would be no father."
Taxes maintain the social order of civilization.
Taxes maintain what the controller of tax revenues decides.
Social order is maintained by society, social rules, human interaction. At best taxes are used by a government to create symbols and rituals based on social rules to make adherence and compliance easier.
Taxes are a tool of social order, they don't define social order.
Money is a store of value and effort. Taxes are a means of redistributing effort towards whatever the controlling body says needs effort or should be valued.
Imagine a condition where there was a loss of government, like a natural disaster or super-virus.
And the only relevant thing that happens is "government" magically goes away? Okay.
Without government and taxes, could we maintain civilization?
Sure. As "civilization" isn't a discrete absolute. There are different levels of "civilization."
Government is a byproduct of civilization, not a determinant.
Would private ownership control roads? Would mega-corporations step in and take control?
People/corporations would attempt to control the things which are perceived to be in their self/community/group interest.
Might private owners pay to keep systems in place?
Pay whom? Pay what? What systems?
Might small businesses group together to assure they have customers?
"Might?" Sure, that's a vague enough term.
Some small businesses "might" group together for any number of reasons.
Or they "might" not, for any other number of reasons. Maybe one small business cheated at the inter business softball game last year so no colluding with them.
Would the "person" contribute to keep government programs in place and operational?
Depends on the situation and the person.
Do they believe the government is going to be reestablished any day now? Are they in some kind of Mad Max world fighting for their next meal? What resources does the "person" have? What is their place/role in their community? What government programs, just all of them?
Which programs would get how much of each person's money?
Beats me. They'd need a committee to figure out the necessity and timing. Ooops. That's government. But you said it might be a supervirus and the only effect seems to be the loss of government.
So starting any type of government would fail because of a supervirus killing it off.
So whichever programs fulfilled perceived self interest of the individual.
Would you willingly pay a penny to keep roads maintained?
Based on a lack of relevant information I don't even know if my pennies are worth anything, recognized as "money" anymore.
If they aren't worth anything, then sure, I'd pay a penny. Maybe even 2.
Other than that, I'd be willing to pay for road maintenance if I received some benefit from the roads, I could afford to pay for maintenance, and/or it was demanded of me by my community which I needed for survival.
Other than that, there might be a supervirus or natural disaster thing running around. I might be trapped under rubble for all I know from this scenario. Then I'm paying nothing until someone gets me outta here, or keeps me from catching the supervirus.
Preachers and priests have income as well. They pay no taxes. They don't even pay sales tax. They are tax exempt.
lol.
That's only true if the preachers and priests live in poverty.
Otherwise they're treated as subcontractors so the church doesn't have to deal with income witholdings, the priest has to figure it out.
Churches don't pay taxes. Priests and preachers don't pay taxes if they're doing "church" work (e.g. buying a gallon of wine for the sacrament so no sales tax).
Otherwise, priests and preachers pay taxes like everyone else as employees of a church. They pay taxes for personal consumption (e.g. buying a gallon of wine for dinner).
Would people be able to maintain a productive society without taxes?
Depends on what you mean by "taxes?"
If you are asking "would people be able to maintain a productive society without a compulsory theft of their personal work efforts by a centralized authority?"
Then yes, yes they could.
Can people govern themselves?
Some can, some can't.
Some people get lost in the wilderness and can "govern" themselves enough to survive and get out.
Other people panic and die.
Does our current tax structure exceed personal vested interest?
Depends on the person.
Shouldn't it be Local, State then Federal priorities?
Local being the highest, most important tax...
Who says is isn't?
Have you sat down with all your receipts, your local, state, and federal tax codes, determined exactly how much in taxes you pay to each entity in every hidden way?
How do you incorporate things such as going to the grocery store and federal law mandating no sales tax on food stamp eligible consumables, so you pay less local taxes?
Even though the item may have come from a different state?
And potentially part of the price of the item incorporates taxes paid by that company in another state (or country), as well as a possible discount due to selling to your town which may have a significant enough population to offer greater economies of scale in distribution?
Or are you "really" asking "Shouldn't it be spoon fed to me in the media a biased focus or perspective of local, state, then federal
priorities, because the media I pay attention to mostly just focuses on national politics and taxes, and when I go on the internet and talk to people all over the country, the commonality is national interest rather than my local priorities!"
How would that priority change effect our standard of living?
Depends on your current standard of living.
Anywhere to no effect whatsoever, to completely changing it positively or negatively.
