this is not sarcasm. i think
taxes are great. i am all about the
social contract, baby. call me a
liberal, call me a fan of
big government, call me a full on lunatic.. taxes are my favorite part of this
democracy. at times they are misused by the
professional liars we choose to run our country, but there are certain things - good things - that our
politicians put our
tax dollars towards that we all use and should all be able to appreciate.
the biggest example is, of course, the
public education system. granted, it sucks in a lot of places, but even when it sucks it's more helpful than
no education at all. and same thing with
financial aid for students. there is no more noble goal than teaching people to survive, and to do so comfortably.
like many parts of the
american government, i think the system of collecting taxes could use some improvement. for instance, it disgusts me to see the wealthy avoid paying large portions of their taxes by lying, cheating, and finding
loopholes, then to hear them turn around and complain because the impoverished get
earned income credit. that seems pretty just to me - you've benefited, greatly, from living in this particular system. you've benefited so much that you've been able to
amass more wealth than you can use. so should you pay more taxes to the
political structure whose
laissez faire economy and other lack of control over big business made it possible?
hell yeah. should the poor, people to whom the system was useless and/or detrimental, get some sort of
compensation and assistance? hell yeah again. a lot of people like to argue that the
lower class stays in that position because they simply didn't try hard enough, and in a certain sense that's true. but consider that 'hard enough' to escape poverty is
really, really hard. and that's why you don't see very many wealthy people who've ever been poor. that's why most of them come from rich families.
those with power don't like
federal assistance programs. they don't like the idea of government stepping in to try and guarantee
equal opportunity. but they need to understand that the choices they make - the choice to pay as few taxes as possible -
keep the poor dependent on federal programs. i have faith, somehow, in
the power of democracy. and i love paying my taxes because i hope that one day they'll be applied the way they should be, to give everyone an equal chance at having a good life.
see
rob now, pay later
and
i-695