Welcome to General Chat - GAW Community Area
This General Chat area started off as a place for people to talk about things that are off topic, however it has quickly evolved into a community and has become an integral part of the GAW experience for many of us.
Based on its evolving needs and plenty of user feedback, we are trying to bring some order and institute some rules. Please make sure you read these rules and participate in the spirit of this community.
Rules for General Chat
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Be respectful to each other. This is of utmost importance, and comments may be removed if deemed not respectful.
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Avoid long drawn out arguments. This should be a place to relax, not to waste your time needlessly.
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Personal anecdotes, puzzles, cute pics/clips - everything welcome
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Please do not spam at the top level. If you have a lot to post each day, try and post them all together in one top level comment
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Try keep things light. If you are bringing in deep stuff, try not to go overboard.
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Things that are clearly on-topic for this board should be posted as a separate post and not here (except if you are new and still getting the feel of this place)
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If you find people violating these rules, deport them rather than start a argument here.
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Feel free to give feedback as these rules are expected to keep evolving
In short, imagine this thread to be a local community hall where we all gather and chat daily. Please be respectful to others in the same way
How were they paid for before?
Depends, most of the US' federal budget came from tariffs in and out of the country, and excise tax on alcohol, which paid for things like military.
Schools wise, most funding came privately, since public funded education didn't really exist.
Roads, streets, parks, ect came from a combination of the affluent and the States paying for contruction between high importance areas, which people also happened to live near. It was very rarely strictly a governmental venture pre-Progressive era.
Even in States with sales tax or income tax, added all together the overall tax rate was never near what we have today, with an effective tax rate of 40-50%, factored all together.
So…you’re talking about the 1600s? Because public schools have been around since then
Also, you sure talk about taxes quite a lot in this that paid for things.