I took my two children to a Tea Party last week, on April 15th. It was fun, it was enlightening and most of all it gave me hope for our country. There are a lot of people out there who still care. Unfortunately, I feel I must explain that I'm not against paying taxes. Some observers of the Tea Parties, which happened nationwide, have characterized the attendees as selfish, anti-tax, racist rednecks. I can only speak for the rally that I attended, but there was no racism. Period. The people that were there are frustrated and fed up with government policies on both sides of the aisle, regardless of whether the politicians are white, black, yellow or purple with polka-dots. It is condescending and dismissive to try and turn this into a race issue--that speaks of fear to address the real argument. I also didn't hear anyone saying that we should not be paying any taxes. What we want is the government to be careful with our money, treat it as if it were coming right out of their wallet and stop wasteful spending. (See my last post.) We do want our taxes lowered and that is my subject today.
As a member of a civilized society, I expect to pay taxes. I am fine paying some taxes. One of the biggest problems with taxes, though, is that we don't actually realize how much we are paying. It is important that we are aware of how much we pay because that will make us be more aware of how it is spent. One of the worst things that ever happened to the taxpayer was the automatic payroll deduction of their tax dollars. Even most mortgages divide up the property taxes into each monthly payment. We don't have to write a check once a month or annually to the government, so we don't really pay attention to the cost. I guarantee that Americans would be much angrier about taxes if we had to write a check every time we paid them.
I will give you an example. We recently moved from Pennsylvania to Washington State. One of the reasons was to escape the high taxes in PA. (It's right up there with NY and CT--a dubious honor at best.) We left an empty house we're trying to sell and I cancelled my trash collection service. No trash has been left out or removed from our house since we left. However, I keep getting bills from the trash company when I thought I should have a zero balance. Finally yesterday I found out that I am obligated to pay $6.94 a month to the township where our house is. The township is requiring a private company to bill me an "administration fee" each month until we sell our house. No trash is being picked up. Please explain to me why a governmental "administration fee" is required?
The answer is simple: it's a tax. In this case, I think it's pure robbery. The government is adept at coming up with different labels for what really turns out to be a tax. If you drive on a toll road or toll bridge, you pay a tax every time you drive it. The label "fee" is used frequently to try and soften the blow, but when it comes right down to it, it's a tax. Licensing fees, registration fees, inspection fees, administration fees, etc, etc, etc, are all taxes. If you want to get really mad, start keeping track of how much you spend every year in taxes. That would include: federal income tax, Social Security tax, Medicare tax, state income tax, city tax (if you're lucky enough to live where you can pay that tax), property taxes, school taxes, tolls, sales tax, "fees" for licensing and inspecting your vehicle, "fees" to renew your driver's license, "fees" to renew your professional license and administration fees for non-trash pick-up. (Yes, I know Social Security is supposed to be an investment for my own retirement, but since the government doesn't put it in an account for me, I'm calling it a tax. They spend it like it's tax money anyway.) And I'm sure I have forgotten fees and taxes that could be included in the list. And why call "fees" taxes? The government is not supposed to be in the business of making a profit. When a dentist charges a fee, he provides a service and bases his fee on what is required for him to pay his staff, pay for supplies and pay him for his time. I find it very hard to believe that the $55 I paid for my new Washington state driver's license went purely to cover the costs of providing me with a new driver's license. So what are they doing with the "profit"? I don't mind paying to get a license. What I do mind is that the government is profiting from my requirement to get a license. They regularly increase their "fees" to cover budget shortfalls. Then, fee monies are taken from one department to pay for budgets in other departments. That "fee" is just another tax. That to me, is an improper use government power and tax dollars. The whole root of the problems goes back to my last post. The government has become entitled to our money. When they want more money for whatever reason, they just take it. We are supposed to have a say in that, but I can't think of a time that the taxpayers have had a say in the increase of fees, tolls or any other label they use for hidden taxes. It is a corrupting influence on government and almost completely eliminates accountability. It would be very interesting to know exactly where that $55 fee for my driver's license was actually spent and where the $6.94 is going. Maybe I'll try and find out this week. What do you think the odds are?
My favorite tax is the Stupid Tax. Now, I don't want to make anybody feel bad, but if you're playing the lottery, you're paying the Stupid Tax. Most states have implemented a lottery with promises of improving education or aiding the elderly. If you follow the news at all, you know that education in America is not improving. Again, I would be really curious to know how much of the actual lottery money is spent on what the voters approved it for. That's one tax you won't catch me volunteering to pay. That's why I call it the Stupid Tax.
One last thought. I was and am sickened by what has gone on with government bailouts. A prime and nauseating example is AIG. I'll get in to this in depth another time, but regardless of how you feel about AIG, you should be terrified by the government reaction. The bonuses that were paid to the executives were approved by the Obama administration. Most of these executives were working for a dollar a year and had contracted to receive these bonuses at year end. AIG employees were told by the Administration, when they took the bailout money, that their contracts would be honored. When public opinion exploded over this, the Administration distanced themselves from this part of the history and instead villified the people who had been waiting to get paid. Even more scary was the reaction of the legislative branch, to tax their bonuses retroactively at 90%. I can't even begin to express how utterly devoid of legality their actions are. Our laws prevent you from being punished retroactively. Furthermore, laws passed to target specific individuals are completely unconstitutional. Again, the AIG mess is a huge stinking pile of manure, but if the government can go after the AIG executive's bonuses, what's to stop them from going after you? What happens if they decide electricians make too much money in their Christmas bonuses? They would have legal precedent and could tax electricians bonuses at 90%. They could simply decide that electricians had made enough money during the year and the government needed their bonus money more. We should all be terrified by the actions of the government in regards to the AIG bonuses. If you separate the emotion from the AIG situation and see it for what it is, it is a huge overstepping of their legal bounds. Ask smokers about that. I don't smoke, never have, but smokers are a targeted tax group. We should all be upset about the unfairness of cigarette taxes. The tax itself is totally unrelated to smoking, tobacco or cigarette production--it targets smokers. I would even feel better about it if the tax dollars all went to supplement Medicare funding. Smokers inevitably consume a higher number of Medicare dollars. But once again, the government sees the cigarette tax as their personal piggy bank and spend it on whatever they want to.
Okay, I lied. THIS is my last thought on taxes. The favorite lie that politicians tell is that they are going to raise taxes on corporations to pay for X. The simple truth is this: corporations DO NOT pay taxes. When the government tries to stick it to corporations that are not on their list of favorites, they stick it to you. Every corporation in the world passes those taxes along to their clients. That means you. Yeah, ha ha, they're sticking it to the oil companies. Well, then the oil company sticks it to you. They pass every penny along to us and we pay their taxes every time we fill our gas tank. Add corporate taxes to your grand total of how many dollars you pay annually in taxes.
If I pay a school tax, then I expect every dollar of that money to be spent in the schools, and I think they generally are. When I have to renew my driver's license, I expect my "fee" to cover the cost of the license (the actual card) and to pay the DOT employees. Unfortunately, taxes and fees are exacted and spent in any way the government sees fit. No accountability is required and none is offered. I'm sure Thomas Jefferson would be thrilled. That is why there were Tea Parties on April 15th and that is why it is time for us to be heard. They will not stop until we stop them, by voting them out and insisting on less spending and more accountability.
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