I really enjoy your snarky tone, but can you explain how any consumption tax regardless of labeling are not regressive when poor people consume a lot more of their income than people with people with higher incomes? Sure you can mitigate this by only taxing x products or offering rebates to poor folk. But it just seems like it is inherent to the system.

It seems to me that progressive income taxes, direct taxes on profits of corporations, wealth taxes, and the like are much better targeted and don’t harm the poorest among us. But I’m from a “ridiculous country” so what do I know?

Sales taxes are regressive. The poorest people pay way more of their income to buy things at stores. Therefore they are getting taxed a lot more than someone who saves money because they have bigger incomes

“Its the antiimperialism of idiots”

I’ll answer it in terms of the people of Rojava fighting ISIS. They accepted American support even though they are against governments. They fought with air support against an evil totalitarian system and totally destroyed that system. Is the US a good actor? No. But if I was in the YPG I’d want that air support. And I’ve read many accounts of YPG and YPJ soldiers who state that.

I don’t know anything about Iranians because it is locked down there. But I assume the people fighting that government are making similar calculations.

It is so easy for a person living a comfortable western life to judge the people fighting these wars for freedom. I’m not going to sit in judgement because they weren’t pure enough and I greatly dislike those who do.

Easy for someone not making those decisions to say

Murdering the ayatollah’s cops isn’t a bad thing. Totalitarian regimes and the people who uphold those regimes are fair game imo. Fuck the us and isreal but if was fighting for freedom I’d take any help I could get.

It does demonstrate the truism that transphobia doesn’t only harm trans people.