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"If you don't like it, move to a different country; you implicitly consent by staying here" is an argument I hear a lot from people when I complain about taxes, but is mysteriously absent when I complain about things like the drug war or bad policing

629

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That's because taxes are an explicit and central part of the contract of being a resident of a country, and those other things aren't. I've never heard anyone argue that the "price" of benefitting from US society is putting up with bad cops or drug wars. Taxes are the price.

Aella

@Aella_Girl

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@ssylvan

Are you saying that if something is explicit and central to a country's rules, that if someone doesn't like it, you'd tell them to stop complaining and leave the country? In every instance? Cause I've got some examples for you...

3:51 AM · Apr 25, 2021

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I'm just saying it's different. You're choosing to stay here and directly benefit from the things the taxes pay for. So that's the deal - you benefit from US infrastructure and society, and in return you have to pay taxes. That's the deal. The drug war isn't the same.