kamranMuhammad

The government can issue currency on its own, so money is never an issue. What’s the point of taxes then?
When taxes come up, most people's first reaction is that it's the government 'raising funds.' Just like we regular folks earn a salary or run a business to generate revenue, the government lacks funds and relies on taxes to patch things up for public works, schools, national defense, and social security. This notion is almost ingrained as 'common sense,' but, ironically, this common sense is fundamentally flawed.
For countries with sovereign currencies, the government monopolizes the issuance of legal tender. In layman's terms, the Renminbi is the official currency issued by the People's Bank of China, and technically, the government can create as much money as it wants; it could cover all fiscal expenditures even without collecting a single cent in taxes.
A classic example is the global response post-COVID in 2020. The U.S. launched multiple rounds of fiscal stimulus in just two years, printing over $5 trillion, directly distributing cash to the public and bailing out businesses. None of this money came from tax increases; it was all thanks to the Fed's money printer.
Similarly, during the pandemic, our country’s expenditures on virus control, social safety nets, and infrastructure investments weren’t raised through temporary tax hikes, but were funded through fiscal deficits.
Now, someone might wonder: if printing money can solve all spending issues, why doesn't the government just eliminate taxes and print money to get by? Some might argue that Zimbabwe and Venezuela went overboard with money printing, ultimately crashing their economies.
Exactly, that’s the crux of the issue. The real purpose of taxation is never to 'raise money'; rather, it’s to maintain the economy's four lifelines.
The first core function of taxes is to establish a 'credit anchor' for legal tender, which is essential for currency circulation. Many people can’t grasp why a piece of paper with numbers on it is accepted as money.
Since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1971, global currencies have completely decoupled from gold IAU; today’s money is fundamentally credit money, and the bedrock of that credit is taxes.
The state legally mandates that all taxes and fees within China must be paid in Renminbi, leaving no alternative options. If you want to run a business, earn a paycheck, or buy property or a car, as long as you legally exist in this country, you can’t escape paying taxes, inevitably creating a rigid demand for Renminbi.
Without taxation, currency loses its core rigid use case, and people would no longer recognize that piece of paper.
The second core function of taxes is as the 'master valve' for controlling inflation, protecting the purchasing power of the common folk. We all know a basic economic principle: if the money supply increases without a corresponding rise in goods and services, inflation occurs, and money loses its value.
When the government prints and spends money, it's essentially 'injecting liquidity' into the market, while taxation is 'siphoning off' excess cash. When the economy overheats and prices skyrocket, the government can raise taxes to pull excess money out of circulation to cool things down; conversely, during economic downturns when consumption is weak, it can cut taxes to keep cash in the hands of businesses and the public, stimulating consumption and investment.
Without taxation as this valve, if the government keeps printing and injecting money without any means to withdraw it, it inevitably leads to rampant inflation.
The third core function of taxes is as a 'balancer' for inequality, maintaining the core foundation of social stability. The natural tendency of a market economy is to concentrate wealth in the hands of a few; over time, this leads to serious wealth disparities and exacerbates social conflicts. Taxation is the most effective tool for achieving income redistribution.
The government collects these taxes and reinvests them through healthcare, social security, compulsory education, and poverty alleviation, thus narrowing the wealth gap and upholding social fairness. Without taxes, wealth would accelerate towards a select few, resulting in the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, ultimately intensifying social conflicts—something no nation can afford.
The fourth core function of taxes is to act as a 'guiding rod' for industrial development, which determines the long-term trajectory of the national economy. For a country to develop sustainably, it must direct capital and talent towards high-tech and real economy sectors while curbing the uncontrolled expansion of high-pollution and high-energy-consuming industries. Tax policy is the most flexible and effective regulatory tool.
Our country provides a 15% corporate tax rate for high-tech enterprises, which is 10 percentage points lower than regular businesses; it also exempts new energy vehicles from vehicle purchase tax; and offers export tax rebates for export enterprises. These tax incentives essentially pave the way for these industries to thrive.
Conversely, imposing high consumption taxes on tobacco and alcohol, and levying environmental taxes on high energy-consuming companies, raises operational costs and limits chaotic expansion. Without taxes, the state loses this core regulatory tool, and capital would flow only into quick-profit speculative industries, neglecting the critical area of technological innovation, leading to total chaos in national industrial development.
Now, someone may still ask: if taxes aren’t for generating funds, why does the government calculate fiscal revenue every year and worry about tax shortfalls?
The reasoning is simple: although the government can technically print unlimited money, the credit ceiling for that money is ultimately determined by its ability to collect taxes. The extent to which a country can consistently collect taxes reflects the health of its economic fundamentals and the strength of its fiscal credibility. Just like how the U.S. can issue massive amounts of national debt globally, it relies not on its money printer, but on having the world's largest tax base; the global community trusts it to honor its debts through taxation, which is why they are willing to hold dollars and U.S. bonds.

EVERYONE IS POSTING .....I'M GONNA POST TOO
...😎😂
$BTC once had such a dangerous feature that Satoshi himself deleted it — after just one warning from a single user.
In the original Bitcoin, you didn’t need a wallet address to send coins. You could send directly to someone’s IP address — and your machine would connect to theirs to complete the transfer.
The flaw? Anyone who sent you Bitcoin could see your IP, locate your machine, and attack it. Just receiving coins was enough to expose you.
On January 14, 2009, Satoshi decided to test this himself. He emailed an early miner named Dustin Trammell and asked for his IP address. Trammell agreed and sent it.
A few minutes later, Satoshi connected to his machine and sent 25 BTC. The attached message: "Hello."
Trammell responded with a warning — the feature was a serious security risk. Anyone could exploit it to track and attack any Bitcoin user just by sending coins.
Within weeks, Satoshi completely removed the IP payment functionality from Bitcoin. The wallet address system we use today replaced it.
Those 25 BTC that Trammell received that day? Worth $1.86 million today.
A warning. A correction. A decision that secured an entire financial network.
#BTC #Satoshi #bitcoin

EVERYONE IS POSTING .....I'M GONNA POST TOO
...😎😂
$BTC once had such a dangerous feature that Satoshi himself deleted it — after just one warning from a single user.
In the original Bitcoin, you didn’t need a wallet address to send coins. You could send directly to someone’s IP address — and your machine would connect to theirs to complete the transfer.
The flaw? Anyone who sent you Bitcoin could see your IP, locate your machine, and attack it. Just receiving coins was enough to expose you.
On January 14, 2009, Satoshi decided to test this himself. He emailed an early miner named Dustin Trammell and asked for his IP address. Trammell agreed and sent it.
A few minutes later, Satoshi connected to his machine and sent 25 BTC. The attached message: "Hello."
Trammell responded with a warning — the feature was a serious security risk. Anyone could exploit it to track and attack any Bitcoin user just by sending coins.
Within weeks, Satoshi completely removed the IP payment functionality from Bitcoin. The wallet address system we use today replaced it.
Those 25 BTC that Trammell received that day? Worth $1.86 million today.
A warning. A correction. A decision that secured an entire financial network.
#BTC #Satoshi #bitcoin