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Call me socialist, but I believe a community needs to care for those citizens who are unable to care for themselves. Although some people would call it natural selection and hope the weakest would just die off quickly, there will always be a certain proportion of the population living in poverty. Poverty creates desperation which leads to increased crime, which is increased drain on the economy (legal system fees, jailing system costs, and lost products in the goods chain because they were stolen instead of paid for.) Poverty also begets malnutrition and lack of education, which leads to increased disease, which is increased drain on the economy (loss of productivity, medication costs for the already-sick instead of preventative medicine and education, welfare costs.)
So it's really in the best interests of a society to make sure everyone is healthy and working and not too desperate or depressed. If that costs the haves a little bit to make sure the have-nots aren't wanting to steal things and aren't spreading disease and whatnot, then I'm fully willing to pay that added tax.
K, back to my coffee..
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