And on top of that they’ll use any trick they can to make themselves appear to have changed their ways. Buying up vouchers that pledge to protect trees that were never in danger in the first place. Creating fresh water plants in places that need them but don’t do anything to combat the pollution they make in other places where more people are affected or more wild life. The whole green washing thing is an incredibly lucrative scam.
I honestly look at it the other way round. Child slavery is a foregone in a capitalist society. It’s a giant pyramid scheme in that it is similarly unsustainable. Eventually poor people can’t carry the weight of the production. And when they are priced out of the market they become ungovernable because they become desperate. Children are easier to control by adults. So of course to make up for what we can’t any longer get adults to do we’ll get children to fill those gaps. And children aren’t adults so they don’t have to be paid as much. And eventually don’t have to be paid at all. Just given food and maybe clothing and some shelter.
Perhaps that’s very defeatist of me. But we’re seeing that in some states in the US. Kids working at meat packing plants and fast food places. And of course desperate people who have to provide for their families will make hard decisions. It won’t happen all at once. But it’s going to keep trending worse and worse.
Capitalists (millionaires and billionaires) very obviously do not think of themselves as being the dystopian factor that destroys society. I think that’s because they live this fever dream where they will be able to dance on the avalanche. Like … They think there will always be new investors, always be capital, always be returns, and profit, and dividends. But that money and that production and that labor has to come from somewhere. And it’s a finite resource. Which means that eventually it will dwindle. Right now there are people working 2 or 3 jobs. Getting 4 hours of sleep a night. At what point do they meet other people, find someone to have a relationship with? At what point do they have a family? Have children? Raise children? In the future will they have 4-5 jobs? Where does it stop?
I don’t know really. That’s part of the problem. I sort of feel like we of the 99% should burn it to the ground and start over but the problem with that is humans are kind of a blight. We consume everything we can and always seem to be looking for the most convenience and the path of least resistance. Taking a look at all of our societal problems and fixing them as a whole really is what needs to happen because everything is interconnected. But the scope is overwhelming. It may still be an unpopular opinion but I think doing away with organized religion in every place it doesn’t belong would be a start. But only if we’re willing to make logical decisions about how to move forward and govern our society secularly. There are a lot of smaller countries that are doing quite well with fixing their societal issues. But even they still have troubles.
There is no moral consumption under capitalism. A lot of people think they agree with that. But simultaneously also seem to realize that they aren’t going to change the status quo. So they don’t try. It’s actually that there’s no morale consumption under capitalism but I have to do what I have to do to survive so here we are.
At the end of the tax year you generally receive tax documentation forms (a W2 or 1099 etc). These tax forms detail your taxable income and possibly any tax credits or exemptions you might be eligible for.
You fill out I9 forms detailing your status (single married etc) and what dependants you have when you start at your place of work and then update those forms as that status changes over time. This information is used by your employer to withhold taxes on your earnings from your pay checks and send that money along to the federal and state governments as necessary.
When you receive your end of year tax forms you enter that tax information into a tax preparation service or paper form, sign it and send it off with what you owe in check form to the IRS, unless you have made accurate tax withholding in which case you have already paid. If you are owed money by the government for overpayment of taxes they will then mail you a check or direct deposit the amount owed to you into an account of your choosing.
There are exceptions if you own a business or have other forms of income for the tax year which you may have to submit a more detailed filing to the IRS with documentation that can absolutely include receipts. But for the most part you use the tax forms you receive to submit your taxable income calculations to the federal or state government and pay or get paid accordingly depending on if you owe them money, or if you are owed money by them for overpayment.