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Paying
Taxes: Where the Real Power Is
Published Saturday,
April 12, 1997
The signs of Spring
are all around us -- buds on the trees, blooming daffodils, the vernal
equinox, and great herds of whining taxpayers dropping 1040s into
mailboxes.
The way some people go on about taxes, youd think that living in
the best and most powerful country on earth should be free. The
rest of us know better -- there is no free lunch. Taxes are a necessity.
Taxes give you a lot for your money. Most important, taxes (and
your vote) are your most powerful tools for controlling your government.
If you can, abandon your mental pictures of Prince John sending the Sheriff
of Nottingham to seize the chickens and cows from the poor peasants, or
Pharaoh sending his army to extract annual tribute from the Babylonians.
The United States is a representative democracy, where we pay taxes to
ourselves and give back the benefits of government to ourselves.
Despite flaws in the system, taxes are good for us. Heres
why.
Practically speaking, taxes get us services. If you want to be the
most powerful country in the world, drive on interstate highways, or help
people in need, its going to cost. Yes, I know you dont
always get what you pay for, but thats government stupidity, not
a tax problem. It remains that in this country, we dont ride
for free.
It may not seem true at first, but paying taxes makes you the most powerful
player in a democracy. Voting is important, but money talks.
Its well understood that the American middle class taxpayer keeps
this country going by paying an overwhelming proportion of income taxes.
Government knows it would crumble if we didnt pay. We can
legitimately say we own this country, although, like stockholders in a
corporation, our day-to-day control is very limited. We can vote
the board of directors out, which we sometimes do. If
you ever want to demonstrate real power, find a way for all taxpayers
to deny the government all money due, and youll see this country
grind to a halt overnight.
Even corporations, who spend big lobbying bucks to get corporate welfare
favors, cant accomplish that. The best they can do is donate
heavily to candidates to produce deceptive commercials at election time.
And the commercials are intended to convince YOU to vote the right
way.
Philosophically, taxes bond Americans together. By choice or coercion,
they are our community effort to get things done. In the old days,
wed get together to help a neighbor raise a barn or wed all
chip in to build a schoolhouse and pay a schoolmarm. These days
its more abstract, but we still all chip in. We as a people
have agreed to share the costs of a powerful (if not always so effective)
government.
By the way, taxes are good for the economy. In simple terms, the
government buys a lot of things with our tax dollars, and those things
are made and sold by us. The government employs a lot of people,
and their paychecks buy pizzas and automobiles. If you want a target,
look at the bad effects of deficit spending, because thats the area
where we have lost our collective mind.
I recognize that taxes are coercive. We dont set the rates
and we cant choose not to pay. Further, they put us in jail
if we dont pay. But dont go on about the wonders of
private enterprise and the voluntary nature of the free market, because
its not.
At the electric company, the phone company, or the gas station, you have
no control over the rates. You can choose not to pay, but youll
be living in the dark and not driving your car very much.
I know the system of taxation has negatives. Really, I havent
been abducted by the IRS and brainwashed by a machine built at taxpayer
expense. So Id be the first to say that 1) some people and
corporations dont pay their fair share; 2) the IRS is a catastrophe
masquerading as agency; 3) the tax laws need reform; 4) nobody in government
seems to listen; 5) you dont always see what goods and services
you get for your money.
But if we think about it, its easy to see that taxes are morally
right and a practical necessity.
Barry Schoenborn is a technical writer, and a ten-year resident of
Nevada County. You can write to him at barry@wvswrite.com. The opinions
of columnists are not necessarily those of The Union.
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