A simple answer would be that we all do. Some more than others. Some less today thanks to targeted tax cuts. We pay taxes when we make money, we pay when we spend it, we pay when we try to own real property. For all this convoluted, confusing system �
What are taxes anyway?
In exchange for our patronage of this economic, capitalistic system we have fought so hard to maintain, we get goods and services from our government. Our government. NOT the king�s, NOT pharaoh�s, but something that belongs to all of us.
When I go --- and I�m sure many of you are the same way --- when I go to buy my own goods and services � I shop. My wife clips coupons. It is a quest to get as much value out of each dollar as we possibly can. When it�s two for the price of one, SOLD.
It is appalling to consider that for every tax dollar taken we are getting far less than a dollar in goods and service. In short � Our government ain�t NO bargain.
Where should our taxes be collected?
If I had my way � I like the scenes in the old Robin Hood movies. Not just because of Errol Flynn. But IF, if the tax takers, the tax spenders, had to come to your house and rip the money out of your hand with you family standing behind you. Your wife that works 10-12 hours a day to help make a better life. Your kids that go to schools that are NOT the best in the world --- or even this nation. Those tax takers might feel a little more like thieves than the public servants they�re supposed to be, but seem to have forgotten.
Then � I want those same �public servants� to personally deliver the entitlement checks. I want them to see the dented pride when the hand, forced by circumstance, reaches out and accepts it. I want them to see gratitude in the recipient's eyes for what they are given.
But I also want them to see for their own eyes how many times that it is NOT an entitlement check but "enablement" check.
Trust me, my boys would gladly hand over whatever --- if they saw someone that truly needed it. But when that �public servant� takes the new shoes off my son�s feet and gives them to somebody else ... Oh well, Evan has trouble keeping his shoes tied anyway.
So where should our taxes be spent?
You know. And I know. And if we don�t. We sure as hell know where it shouldn�t be spent. Fully 70% of the now 100 billion dollars spent by our State is spent on the local, city and county level. Schools, County Sheriffs, hospitals, and the list goes on.
A big bucket of money makes the trip to Sacramento where 120 of our �public servants� get out their straws and eye droppers. I did the math. Each one has the power to budget, allocate, spend over 800 million dollars a piece. Am I boring you yet? 800 million dollars.
I had a half a million dollars once. WOW!! All sitting right there in my bank account. It made me feel � it made me feel a lot of things. Made me feel like a million bucks.
But it wasn�t my money. I hadn�t earned it. It was the bank�s mistake. And I ain�t a thief. They fixed their mistake the very next month. Didn�t even acknowledge it. Or apologize for nearly giving me a heart attack and tempting me to be less than a good citizen. Didn�t give me any extra interest, either. Easy come easy go. It should NOT be that way with our tax dollars.
I want to go to Sacramento, with your help, and find out why that money canNOT be collected here, budgeted here, and spent here without making a detour through their bank account. I want to relieve our public servants of the temptation I am all too familiar with. I want to help them be good citizens.
How much is too much tax?
We are NOT over taxed � because of what they take. We are over taxed because of what they waste. Waste in government is an accepted practice that seems to be constant, well known, and insoluble.
I worked in labs for 8 years. Mixed, extracted, titrated, pipeted, and analyzed all kinds of solutions. Nothing's insoluble. You just got to find the right mix of ingredients. Even oil and water will mix. Just add a little alcohol. It has other miraculous abilities too. Properly administered it can make the opposite sex more attractive. Or over done, it can make men down right ugly.
Why are taxes necessary?
They do have a purpose beyond the goods and services we all cherish and appreciate. People tithe to their churches. Freely. Just pass the hat. Are they buying blessings? Making payments on salvation? Meeting an obligation? I don�t think so.
If strings are attached to a gift, if its given conditionally. It is NOT a gift but a business transaction. When we give freely, it is more than an exchange. It has to do with Faith, Hope, and Charity. Our faith that charity can and will provide hope for others.
If our government really worked. If it were efficient. If it were a bargain. If it truly represented the good in so many of the people in this State ...
Maybe, just maybe, they wouldn't have to sneak it out of our paychecks before we get it. They wouldn't have to tack it on to the costs of the things we buy.
Maybe they could just pass the hat. A ridiculous notion but it happens every week all over this country.
