Classic neolib playbook. Defund public services so much that they barely function, claim that the government can't do anything right and/or that public services are "net negative", then privatize everything and enshittify it even more while extracting as much value from people as possible.

What was your excuse before this administration?

"I've been told"

brilliant.

taxation removes money from the overall monetary supply. Central banks can't 'run out' of money and do not require that spending be 'matched' to a tax base. There is a practical limit on how much money can be printed, in terms of productive capacity but also inflationary pressure, but mostly the boomer narrative of 'fiscal responsibility' is there to discipline popular expectations about social services and public spending generally. The logic of austerity is a leash around the neck of the working class, working silently to condition them to interpret spending which benefits their class interests as being 'irresponsible'.

I won’t downvote, but whoever told you that was telling stories. Yes, money gets mishandled at times, and we’re currently in a period of absurd corruption, but overall governmental programs are very efficiently run compared to a lot of private sector since there’s zero need for profit.

The government is also essentially the largest negotiating body in the country for bulk rate bids.

If they need money they print it

Which is a leading cause of inflation. It’s very conservative financial behavior. Budgets need to be balanced. Republicans don’t bother and tend to leave the mess for whoever comes after. Democrats aren’t a ton better, but budgets are at least considered, and the only time we’ve ever had a surplus budget in my lifetime was under the democrats.

That stuff has a name, and it's called MMT, modern monetary theory, and it's generally considered a bad idea.

Yes, the government can in principle just print money, but that has consequences, and they're not pretty. The understanding of the problems this was causing has been the historical reason for the independence of the central banks from the executive branches.

There is a branch of the left that doesn't like the idea that there are limits to public spending, but now that Trump is trying to take control of the Federal Reserve we just might find out how much of a bad idea it is to have the central bank under the executive.

The shortest version of why MMT is very dubious at best, is that if you print too much money you get inflation, and MMT proponents acknowledge this. You know how they suggest controlling inflation? By levying taxes. And there you go, taxes are back.

BTW the breakdown of how your tax dollars are spent is here: (at least if you're in the US, which it sounds like you are)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expenditures_in_the_United_States_federal_budget

but ive been told they (gov) dont need our taxes one bit. If they need money they print it. Taxation is a scam, basically, and the majority goes to war, right?

you were told incorrectly.

I'm up for a tax strike if it's sufficiently organized. We aren't going to accomplish shit going up against this system on our own.

America can’t use tax money correctly

It was mentioned in the message you replied to.

taxation and government spending are two different things

Yes, there’s interstate compacts starting to form around this sort of thing. They’ve been in the works for a while now.

So how about we require the government to serve the people

And what are you doing to work towards this goal?

I'm assuming the individual gives the consent. So what happens if you don't consent?