TAXES ARE IMPORTANT! and why you need to pay them

I am stating this with the full knowledge that I know very little about taxes. I am not an economics professor. I am not a tax accountant. I am not a government official. I am not well read on tax reform or tax policies. I do know that…

 

TAXES ARE IMPORTANT!

 

Yes, if you are an American, you pay taxes. If you don’t pay taxes than you are committing a federal crime and then you are still an American but you are also a criminal. You pay taxes because who else is going to pay for government work programs, public schools, police officers and fire fighters? How else is the government going to generate any revenue to preserve national parks or build an army to maintain a secure and safe nation? Don’t you see that paying taxes is important? If you want a cop protecting your street, or a teacher teaching your child math or science, or a road not filled with potholes then you need to pay taxes.

 

I don’t know about you but last time I checked, fire fighters, police officers, teachers and plenty of other government workers with valuable roles for the daily lives of millions of Americans don’t make a lot of money. No they don’t and when you think about cutting taxes try and think about what area(s) of government funding are being cut… is it environmental conservation? Is it education? Is it homeland security? Social Security? Welfare? Medicare? Or what?

 

If you are a free market junkie then I might be able to understand your desire to let the market dictate everything in this world but I cannot let the market dictate my education or my safety. If the market were to dictate the environment then the whole state of Florida would be a giant shopping mall with miles and miles of pastel housing with a crocodile in every swimming pool. Screw the Everglades! Yellowstone would be the next place to host a hip film festival or another place for health spa after health spa after health spa. If you believe that this war, the war on terror needs to continue but you also believe that your taxes need to be cut then I suggest you decide which is more important; a government in debt or a war (that may never be won.)

 

TAXES ARE IMPORTANT!

 

Yes, I am going to repeat this again and again and again. If you don’t want to pay taxes then maybe you should go somewhere else, oh wait, every country collects some form of taxes, at least any functional country.  If you don’t like taxes, don’t pay them or suffer the consequences. If you don’t like how your taxes are being spent then vote. Yes, VOTE!

 

TAXES ARE IMPORTANT!

 

I cannot deny that this is a very complicated issue. Who pays what, how much and for what generates a great amount of debate? Is it fair for someone who makes very little to pay a higher percentage of their income compared to someone in a higher tax bracket. Ask billionaire Warren Buffet what he thinks and you might find out that he agrees with me or is it that I agree with him? I think (it is) that I agree with him, after all he believes that is unfair that he pays 17.7 percent of his income to the government while his secretary who makes a considerable amount less (billions less) pays taxes on 30 percent of her income. How does that work?

 

If you are talented, successful, gifted and/or lucky then don’t you deserve your swerve and swagger? Of course you do. I just don’t see why you might need six, fourteen or more cars. I just don’t see why you need an island off the coast of Jamaica. I just don’t know why you need a piece of jewelry that equals the cost of a teacher’s salary and it isn’t that you just have one piece but enough to fuel a war in a third world country. By the way, I love the wealthy with all these luxuries as they try to speak to the majority as if they are common folk facing the same problems as those struggling for work, health care or survival. 

 

TAXES ARE IMPORTANT!

 

Is Warren Buffet the answer? Probably not. Oh, he has the answers? No, probably not. But Warrant Buffet does raise a valuable issue about the tax system in this country.  Unfortunately when we talk about taxes the discussion only includes the payer and payment. It seems that everybody wants to pay less but before that happens maybe we should all pay an equal share.

 

The government might be a huge mess and trusting them with billions of dollars in tax money might seem dangerous and naïve but that is why we have elections. Participation in government is key to maintaining a healthy and honest governing body. Be informed, vote, petition, whatever it takes to let your voice be heard. Cutting taxes is not the only answer even though it might be for some but TAXES are important. Paying taxes is important. The country has enough problems even when a lack of funding isn’t the problem. Inner city schools are failing. Healthcare is failing. Social security is failing.

 

But what do I know? Is paying taxes going to solve all our problems? I don’t know. Money is only money if not used wisely, but nothing can be done if there is no money to solve the problem. All I can say is this...

Vote!

and

TAXES ARE IMPORTANT!