Response to Danish Visit

Given that I still know very little about the U.S. system of taxation I don’t feel that I have much of a right to rant and rave about how bad it is…but I have a feeling that it isn’t working very well considering the vast number of people in poverty today under our system of taxation and government. From what I can tell though, in the U.S., most of our taxes are actually regressive, why that is, I don’t know. We pay a federal income tax that helps to fund various public services and we pay a social security tax that I believe helps to pay for our insurance. People are given money based on their level of economic stability and others are taxed for having greater wealth. Relative to Denmark, we pay fairly low taxes.
In Denmark, there is a similar system set up but it leans slightly more towards the socialist side of socialist democracies. They have sales tax, income tax, and social security tax just like we do, but they have a substantially higher tax on things that harm the environment, and to help the less fortunate. In Denmark, housing is a right and the government pays for your housing and some of your living expenses if you are down on your luck. As a result the people don’t live in fear of poverty and are much more willing to help people out in order to maintain their status of life.
The key difference I noticed between these two systems is the reason and motivation behind paying the taxes. Here people begrudgingly pay taxes and whine about having to pay for those in poverty that we believe are selfishly living off the hard work and good nature of the wealthy. In Denmark kids are substantially more educated about their own system of government as well as those of other countries so they grow up aware of the reprocussions of selfishness and the virtues of collectivity. The conservatives have put it in our heads that the poor just want to steal from the rich and we believe such fallacies as a result. Whereas in Denmark the poor have just struck hard times and must be assisted in any way possible.
As of right now I think that we should take a step towards a more extreme social democracy with a revolutionary move towards socialist anarchy. My main problem with the Danish system of taxation is the reliance on the government. While all may seem well and good at a glance it takes one rotten egg to spoil the bunch. The fact is, people can be greedy and if given a spot in the government can corrupt it with their greedyness. Because of people that are willing to exploit such an idyllic system for their own personal gains we need to be cautious not to give the government too much leverage over its people. What would the people of Denmark do if all of a sudden their government had a draft of sorts and threatened to deprive them of food and housing if they didn’t join? IN a social anarchy, the people have more control over everything and it gives them the right to say no.