Taxes

First written on JRE blog on December 06, 2003:

The rhetoric here is very important. GOP is purposefully using the phrases like "lifting the tax burden" implying that taxes are something negative, a heavy weight we are forced to carry but they'll help us by taking some of that weight away. Taxes are not a burden. Taxes are dues we pay to live in a civilized country. There is no such thing as free lunch. If you want to live without worrying that a foreign country is going to bomb your home - pay for that privilege. If you don't want burglars in your home - pay for that security. If you want to buy a car for a reasonable price, drive it on an asphalt road, and fill a tank at a gas station - pay to live in a country in which that is possible. If you want to be able to get a good education, find a good job or start your own business - pay to live in a country in which that is possible. You want to get your mail delivered every day - pay for it. It does not matter which of those services are provided by the state, which by private corporations, what matters is that there is a set of laws and rules that make sure that yu can get the service for a reasonable price, with desirable quality, and have a legal recourse if you are wronged. Organizing a complex society like that costs money and money does not grow on trees. Everyone who lives here has to contribute towards the infrastructure that allows everything to function. Without taxes, there is no government, and there is no stopping the most unscrupulous types from terrorizing everyone else. What is scary about Bush adminstration is that it is working towards a state with no government in which he and a few of his buddies can terrorize the rest of us. So, do not think of taxes as "burden", but as a very small fee one pays for the enormous privilege of living in and doing business in this country.