You know those offhand comments people make, that in the context of the conversation seem fairly mundane and innocuous. Comments like, "This is where my tax dollars are going?" and "Why are we paying such high taxes?" These types of comments often go unchallenged, because at some point we all share similar sentiments. Nobody likes paying taxes, but we do it for a reason.
The next time someone complains about paying taxes, remind them that their tax dollars are going to programs that literally save lives.
Remind them that without taxes:
Nobody would be protecting all of us from the companies who would be willing to spill oil on our lands and in our waters, and contaminating our fresh water supplies, and selling us poorly handled meat and produce, and selling us medicines without knowing the risks and side effects, and selling us cigarettes and asbestos and lead and other cancer-causing products, and making sure that we are travelling in safe planes and trains and cars and buses, on safe roads and rails.
Nobody would be paying for the police officers and fire fighters and federal investigators and regulators and emergency first responders and coast guard and national guard and armed forces and all the support staff who work around the clock to keep us safe.
Nobody would be helping the elderly who can't work and can't rely on their families and haven't been able to save up enough money throughout their lives pay for medication and medical care and living assistance.
Nobody would be educating our children, or helping them pay for college, so that our country will not be lacking the doctors and nurses and teachers and engineers and scientists and architects and leaders and otherwise-educated populace it needs in the future to thrive. The people who will be caring for our aging population, and researching new cures and treatments, and averting climate and natural disasters, and building safer buildings and infrastructures, and developing cleaner fuels and power sources.
Nobody would be helping the most needy, who can't afford shelter or food or basic medical care.
The same people who complain about paying taxes are also often the same people who insist that these kinds of services, if the government and our taxes weren't paying for them, private companies would come in and fill the gaps and provide the same level of service. Remind them that private companies are not about saving the most lives and protecting the most people, but about making money. That's the singular reason private enterprise exists.
The next time someone complains about paying taxes, do not let them go unchallenged.
The next time someone complains about paying taxes, ask them who they are willing to kill.
Let us not forget that only the Republican worldview, which hinges specifically on lowering taxes and cutting government spending, results most assuredly in some of us losing our lives.