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US-taxpaying vegans are forced to finance livestock subsidies. Has there been any effort to counter that? (slrpnk.net)

submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by activistPnk@slrpnk.net to c/vegan@slrpnk.net

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If you’re a vegan in the US but you pay tax, part of your tax contribution goes toward livestock farming subsidies. So in effect you are forced to support unethical treatment of animals.

So I have to wonder-- have vegans attempted to fight for the right to be fully vegan and thus requested to opt-out of those subsidies? In principle, it seems a vegan should be able to tick on a box on their tax forms saying “I was vegan this whole tax year” and the result should be a tax credit that reimburses their share of the livestock subsidies the gov pays every year using public money.

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[+] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 20 points 2 years ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

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[+] activistPnk@slrpnk.net -6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (4 children)

Not sure I would easily say that’s a slippery slope because veganism is different. Strictly speaking, one is not truly a vegan if they pay US tax because they are in fact contributing to animal exploitation. So vegans would be demanding a right to be vegan. Whereas your other examples don’t have a similar effect of denying someone to be who they want (the right to self determination in the declaration of human rights, IIRC). If someone tried to invent being opposed to public healthcare, they would be at odds with human rights to start with and would have to start with denying themselves public healthcare. These positions would be too extreme to defend, unlike defending one’s right to be vegan. Education is also a human right and they’re not overturning that easily.

EDIT: fwiw, I dug up the self-determination right I was fuzzy on, from the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Part I, Art.1:

All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.

That said, I’m not sure if that concretely allows a vegan to derive a right to be vegan. Perhaps it’s too abstract to be useful.

[–] growsomethinggood@reddthat.com 14 points 2 years ago

(Religious) pacifists are required to fund wars under this system already. No one would argue for higher protections for vegans than religion, which is already better protected constitutionally in the US. So unfortunately I think this is a non-starter for legal determination. Morally speaking, you could have that conversation, but it wouldn't slot in to our existing framework as it stands.

[–] Okokimup@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

That said, I’m not sure if that concretely allows a vegan to derive a right to be vegan.

Jesum fuck, it's this kind of gatekeeping that keeps people from making better decisions because you make them think it has to be all or nothing.

[–] HansSlonzok@lemmy.world 15 points 2 years ago (1 children)

If you’re a pacifist in the US but you pay tax, part of your tax contribution goes toward army subsidies.

[–] sxan@midwest.social 1 points 2 years ago

A huge part. Much larger than farm subsidies, most of which go to non-livestock farming, such as corn and soybeans.

I hate greenbeans. I don't want any of my tax dollars going to stinking greenbean farming.

[–] iiGxC@slrpnk.net 3 points 2 years ago

Check out the agricultural fairness aliance. I think so far they've managed to hire one lobbyist to lobby against animal ag

https://www.agriculturefairnessalliance.org/

[–] iiGxC@slrpnk.net 2 points 2 years ago

Also, anti-war folks have some strategies for minimizing the taxes they pay on ethical grounds. Depending on your situation, they may work for you https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/AskPyNg6hHP6SrmEy/redirecting-one-s-own-taxes-as-an-effective-altruism-method

[–] toxicbubble420@beehaw.org 1 points 2 years ago

vote humane party