This article is a part of The Rational Argumentator's Issue CLXXIII.
Many people equate the amount of government spending with how oppressive that government is. This is not necessarily the case, however.
Consider two hypothetical governments. Government A spends 1 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on equipping terror squads that go around randomly brutalizing innocent civilians among the government's own subjects. Government B spends 50 percent of the GDP on buying giant purple lollipops for children. Taxpayers do pay more to sustain Government B than Government A - but can any sensible person say that Government B is more oppressive? Would any sensible taxpayer prefer the high likelihood of being killed and brutalized to the payment of 50% of his income to the government? Neither is desirable, of course, but which is worse?
Clearly, what matters with regard to government oppressiveness is not just how much money the government spends, but also what the government spends its money on.
The issue of measuring how oppressive a given government is can be complicated even further. Not only is the amount of government spending not a direct indication of oppressiveness - but two otherwise identical governments can differ dramatically in how oppressive they are based on the technological environment in which they operate.
Consider two governments, C and D. Each government has the same tax rate and tax code. However, computers have not yet been invented in the country of government C, and each taxpayer must spend many hours and perhaps days filling and filing paper forms which he often does not understand - simply in order to pay the government! Most taxpayers have to spend additional amounts of money paying tax preparation services in order to even have a chance of filing their tax returns correctly. Under government D, however, there is a thriving high-technology market, and numerous online tax filing services have emerged, many of which will fill out tax forms quickly and for free based on inputs of rudimentary income data.
Many people equate the amount of government spending with how oppressive that government is. This is not necessarily the case, however.
Consider two hypothetical governments. Government A spends 1 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on equipping terror squads that go around randomly brutalizing innocent civilians among the government's own subjects. Government B spends 50 percent of the GDP on buying giant purple lollipops for children. Taxpayers do pay more to sustain Government B than Government A - but can any sensible person say that Government B is more oppressive? Would any sensible taxpayer prefer the high likelihood of being killed and brutalized to the payment of 50% of his income to the government? Neither is desirable, of course, but which is worse?
Clearly, what matters with regard to government oppressiveness is not just how much money the government spends, but also what the government spends its money on.
The issue of measuring how oppressive a given government is can be complicated even further. Not only is the amount of government spending not a direct indication of oppressiveness - but two otherwise identical governments can differ dramatically in how oppressive they are based on the technological environment in which they operate.
Consider two governments, C and D. Each government has the same tax rate and tax code. However, computers have not yet been invented in the country of government C, and each taxpayer must spend many hours and perhaps days filling and filing paper forms which he often does not understand - simply in order to pay the government! Most taxpayers have to spend additional amounts of money paying tax preparation services in order to even have a chance of filing their tax returns correctly. Under government D, however, there is a thriving high-technology market, and numerous online tax filing services have emerged, many of which will fill out tax forms quickly and for free based on inputs of rudimentary income data.
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