THE TAX NOBODY NEEDS?

Somewhere in a far off distant land, there are no taxes.  Right. 

Somewhere in government offices, there is no discussion about taxes.  Right.

Somewhere in the Great Hereafter, there will be no taxes to be paid.  Do what?

The period of enlightenment brought about lots of changes in the world, all for the better in my opinion.  People around the world had been taught for centuries a concept called the divine rights of kings, which meant that God had selected these monarchs and that it was your christian duty to obey them.  And kings were big into taxation because the notion of taxing the masses had been around for  a long time.  One of the things enlightenment preached was that we should scrap the divine rights of kings concept.  Life should be more than living under autocratic rule where the kings took what they wanted and left you very little.  Don't wait on the hereafter as a promise of reward for being dutiful citizens . . . do something about it now.  Get rid of the kings. Get a government that works better for people.  Get rid of taxes that choke the life out of you.

And we did get rid of kings, and government is better than it was several centuries back . . . but wait!  What about the tax thing?  We've still got 'em, and they're still choking us down . . . well, most of us.  Some people, because they have influence with government, pretty much skate when it comes to taxes.  And we, meaning those of us who live in the U.S., are suffering under a heavy tax burden that needs to be changed.  Inequity is the biggest problem with it, and most taxes are too high.  So, why do we still have them?  'Cause we're suckers, that's why.  We've been chumped by propaganda that for the most part says government needs all that money so it can take better care of us.  We're still being told, in a round about way, that God wants us to pay taxes so we can save liberty and all that good stuff. 

I won't argue that we don't need some taxation.  Government has never come up with a way to make money any other way, so they take it from the citizenry.  They always have, and it may always be that way . . . and there's some justification for it.  And you can't argue that we don't get back a lot from what we put into the system.  Everyone wants good roads to drive on, good schools for our kids, prisons to put away the bad guys . . . and to defend our country . . . and to take care of the poor and disadvantaged.  And that's not the big problem because most people will willingly pay taxes, regardless of the reasoning behind it.  It's the inequity, the unfairness about how taxes are applied and collected.  And there is a big reason for that - politicians.  Do you trust these people to do it fairly?  I don't.  And you want to know what really burns my butt?  I don't have a solution to the problem, and apparently neither does anyone else. 

There's an old saying that the only thing we really have to do is die and pay taxes.  Right.  But if you're thinking that one fixes the other, that when you die the paying of taxes will be over, you're wrong.  You won't have to pay it because you're dead, but whoever gets it will damn sure be taxed.  It looks like taxation is more permanent than even death.