✅ whataboutism ✅ false equivalency ✅ externality burial ✅ character assassination ✅ appeal to greater morality You aren't saying anything. you spent what, two hours performing the Libertarian Dance of the Seven Veils around the fact that you're wrong but you still believe you're right? Look - "in a perfect system everything works" is not a valid rejoinder to the argument that the system is broken. You do this with tawdry regularity - "but there are laws!" in response to any argument that parties lack equal access to legal protection. I'm sure you do try to minimize your taxes. So do I. Fact of the matter is, Lowe's can do that more effectively because they're a giant corporation. 1.9 billion dollars in taxes? Ayn Rand must be spinning in her grave. Except oh wait they did 90 billion in sales. That's 2.1 percent, lower than the sales tax for any place in the united states that charges sales tax. if you bought an outlet cover from Lowe's in the United States, you paid more taxes to buy that outlet than Lowe's paid to sell it.