• Snapz@lemmy.world
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    3 hours ago

    When we quit paying taxes… to England.

    It’s a half thought, but anything sounds deep to a giant idiot.

  • modus@lemmy.world
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    8 hours ago

    I want to see some fireworks special interest group successfully lobby to have taxes dropped on fireworks in June.

  • callouscomic@lemmy.zip
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    12 hours ago

    The U.S. literally started charging insane taxes right as the country began. They even teach Shays Rebellion in school.

    • TheKingBee@lemmy.world
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      10 hours ago

      The whole story only makes sense through the propaganda lens, brave freedom fighters against an oppressive government taxing them for no reason.

      Then you read the actual context and it’s a bunch of new aristocracy high on slave money mad that the empire refuses to let them expand past the boarders established in a war that benefited them and they are now having to pay taxes for.

  • kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world
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    18 hours ago

    Are people under the impression that the US revolution and independence was specifically about not paying taxes? That’s some libertarian shit right there.

  • thezeesystem@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    18 hours ago

    You know what’s also not cool. Making using fireworks illegal because it might cause a fire but don’t ban the selling of fireworks.

    • nullspace@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      Fireworks enthusiasts should take their fireworks to a fireworks range when they want to use them and keep them locked in a fireworks case when not in use.

    • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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      14 hours ago

      The greatest punishment from God is that the pretty fireworks that aren’t loud and annoying are also the ones most likely to cause fires

      • PhoenixDog@lemmy.world
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        15 hours ago

        They’re boring, loud, and pointless.

        I don’t mind going to an actual coordinated show at a local beach, but every individual douchebag just shooting them off in their backyard for funsies is a fucking loser.

      • meekah@discuss.tchncs.de
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        16 hours ago

        I can only speak for myself, but I do think fireworks should be much more regulated. Each year 10,000 people get hurt from fireworks in the US alone, and it’s pretty horrible for the environment. I do appreciate the cultural importance, so I don’t think completely banning them is the solution, but I think it would be much better if there were just a few organized firework shows, and no more fireworks for private use.

        • dogdeanafternoon@lemmy.ca
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          16 hours ago

          That makes a ton of sense. I’m in Canada, where they are regulated. You really only ever see fireworks at organized events put on by towns/cities, and they are always awesome. One of my favourite things to watch as a kid.

        • YawningNostalgia@thelemmy.club
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          2 hours ago

          My cats don’t care at all. Fireworks are fun, and if dogs can’t handle that then they’re stupid. I set off a bunch of the big ones that are illegal but can be sold on reservations (I think? I didn’t buy them) for my birthday out in the rural flat middle of nowhere and it was so cool. We had the hardest time lighting them because of the wind and then when we finally got it going we had to sprint away so fast, and we were laughing our asses off. Good mems. TL;DR fuck yo sensitive dumbass dogs

      • Rusty@lemmy.ca
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        15 hours ago

        If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.

        Unless someone can invent the real equivalent of the fireworks Gandalf usef in the LoTR movie, I’m not interested.

      • gmtom@lemmy.world
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        16 hours ago

        I have pets and any firework related holiday I have to hole up with them all night to comfort them. And that’s just on the days I know they will have them, basically all of autumn and winter have dickgeads randomly setting off fireworks for god knows what reason. It’s hell

  • 5ha99y@lemmus.org
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    20 hours ago

    I see taxes as a good solidary thing but we need far stronger regulations or personal interest direction where the tax should go

    • MrEff@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      I would rather my tax dollars don’t go to government investments of ripping Pokémon boosters and magic cards. The military would also balloon more than it already has.

    • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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      16 hours ago

      No we shouldn’t. Imagine where the taxes would go, and then understand where people would make sure they didn’t go. A shitload of people are racist, self serving, and shortsighted.

  • homes@piefed.world
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    1 day ago

    We didn’t quit paying taxes. We just quit paying unfair taxes to the Crown.

    • TallonMetroid@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      A reminder that the taxes in question were levied to recoup the costs of French and Indian War, which the colonists started.

      • merc@sh.itjust.works
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        16 hours ago

        And, which was largely fought (and won) in a way that dramatically benefitted the colonists.

        Ever wonder why there are so many places with French names just slightly inland from the original 13 US colonies have French names?

        • Bayou La Batre, Decatur, Lapine, Leroi, Mon Louis, Dauphin Island, etc. Alabama
        • Louisville, Paris, Versailles, Montpelier, etc. in Kentucky
        • Leroy, Napoleon, Montpelier, Saint Croix, etc. in Indiana
        • Bellaire, Bellefontaine, Louisville, Marietta, etc. in Ohio
        • Dubois, Duquesne, Labelle, Fort le Boeuf, Eau Claire, etc. in Pennsylvania
        • The name “Michigan” itself (originally Ojibwe, but interpreted into French), and a whole lot of parts of that state, including Detroit
        • Ozark (aux arcs), Benoit, Bellefontaine, D’Iberville etc. in Mississippi

        New France went from the Gulf of Mexico north, included all the Great Lakes, and kept going up to Hudson’s Bay. American settlers couldn’t go west without entering New France, so England fought a war to allow the expansion west. It won that war. The resulting treaty gave the British colonists in the Americas a huge amount of territory they could expand into, leaving only a small amount behind for France and its native allies.

        The British colonists in the Americas were asked to help pay for the war that gave them that opportunity to expand west, and they rebelled. And then, after the rebellion, they decided they didn’t need to abide by the terms of the British treaty with the French and took over most of the remaining land that France had been left after that war.

      • CommanderCloon@lemmy.ml
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        19 hours ago

        Didn’t the boston tea party start because they lowered the price of legally imported (and thus taxed) tea, undermining smugglers?

        • ohulancutash@feddit.uk
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          11 hours ago

          Yes, but it was also a grudge match between rivals. In one connected incident a locally-owned ship was burnt to the waterline to take out a competitor.

          The tea party was hugely damaging to the rebel cause, and leadership was furious. Just the sort of lawlessness the rebels were accused of standing for. It’s only several decades later that it was recast as an act of rebellion against the crown.

      • Big Baby Thor@sopuli.xyz
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        1 day ago

        “No taxation without representation”. If the colonies got representatives in Parliament, that flag would look mighty different.

        • merc@sh.itjust.works
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          17 hours ago

          Except that the British were offering that concession, and the negotiators for the colonists didn’t want to take it because really the taxes and lack of representation were just an excuse.

          • PapaStevesy@lemmy.world
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            6 hours ago

            The British were also being ruled by someone with a genetic blood disease that makes you irrational and some form of major personality disorder, not exactly the most trustworthy negotiators.

            • merc@sh.itjust.works
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              5 hours ago

              How directly was he involved in the negotiations? Often the king is the ultimate authority in a country, but they don’t actually make many decisions themselves.

              It’s well known that the colonists were looking for a reason to break away, and that the taxation issue was a convenient excuse. After all, taxation without representation was the norm. It wasn’t like all of England had the vote and had representatives in parliament. Entire cities had zero representation but were still taxed. Ireland had been part of the British empire for ages and it didn’t have representation.

              • PapaStevesy@lemmy.world
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                2 hours ago

                Well, having a verifiably insane monarch sure couldn’t have helped.

                It’s obviously foolish for anyone to try and argue exactly what happened when for which reasons, we weren’t in those rooms having those conversations so we’ll never really know. We do know that the colonists hated what they considered overreaching British control (it was kind of the reason they left in the first place), and we know that the British were broke af and desparate to wring every penny they could out of the colonies to pay for wars on the other side of the ocean (sounds familiar). But you bring up a good point in Ireland, they were famously treated so well by the British and therefore were predictably loyal and peaceful subjects of the Crown 🤣🤣🤣

    • GarboDog@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      We just like how the “un fair taxes” they teach is actually way lower than the taxes US citizens have now adays.

      • ftbd@feddit.org
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        1 day ago

        It really depends on what you’re getting in return. If your taxes paid for your healthcare and education, things would be different

        • GarboDog@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          Neither did… well the K-12 education was paid, but it wasn’t the best of qualities. Having to relearn a lot of history and economics in EU now lol.

          Also off topic; was gonna say US had a specific year for when education was free but checking the history, it was really spotty when implemented and heavily disorganized. Aaaand wow found out California broke a treaty against Mexico in 1998 with Proposition 227, where it’s illegal for teachers to speak Spanish (ir any other bilingual language) in public schools. It was heavily lobbied by Californian multimillionaire Ron Unz. We don’t know if that still holds up, cuz what if the kids only speak Spanish?? Or its Spanish class??? Or the teacher is Spanish themself and are trying to find the right words to something and are like ¿cómo se llama esto? faaaahhhh”???

          Anyways USA only has the education part and it’s spotty af lol

      • homes@piefed.world
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        1 day ago

        The checks were unfair because they went to the crown rather than back to the American people who are paying them in the first place

        • merc@sh.itjust.works
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          13 hours ago

          And paid for wars that were fought for the benefit of the colonists. Similar to how US taxes today are paid to the state and are used to pay for wars that the government claims are for the benefit of the American people.

        • JustEnoughDucks@slrpnk.net
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          24 hours ago

          So what is different now?

          Is Israel, Trump’s ministers’ pockets, insurance company executives, and the military industrial complex executives considered “the american people”?

          • TachyonTele_Esq@piefed.social
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            11 hours ago

            Normal the difference is the larger pool of people, and this more money for non citizen things.

            Right now… who the fuck knows

  • Zephyr@sh.itjust.works
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    24 hours ago

    Hear me out, just start a religion where fireworks are a form of religious ceremony. Although you’ll likely still pay tax on procuring the materials to manufacture the fireworks.

  • chuckleslord@lemmy.world
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    23 hours ago

    Know what’s really not cool Bobby? Using ai to approximate King of the Hill when there are real King of the Hill screenshots you could’ve used.