[MD] SOPA and PIPA

[Tuukka Virtaperko]

Mark,
to clarify my point regarding the welfare trap. If approximately 50% of 
my income went to the state, it doesn't mean I'm paying roughly as much 
tax and such as any other Finn, although tax revenue is 44 % of GDP. VAT 
is usually 23 % here, so if I used all my income to buy something, state 
would get approximately 73 % of my money.

-Tuukka



> Mark,
> this is not an unfriendly conversation, and not something that would 
> stand out as inconvenient for me. I agree the USA has lots of charity. 
> But I'd like to point out that in the US, total tax revenue is 27% of 
> GDP. In Finland, it's 44 %. Although giving 5 % of money to charity is 
> good, it doesn't necessarily even a 17 % difference in tax revenue as 
> percentage of GDP. I do not expect to ever be hard up for money to 
> survive, but I'll remember what you said in case I will be.
>
> -Tuukka
>