| Paying Taxes Sucks: A rant by the entertainment editor of the future |
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| Written by Booby Swain | |
 In this great land of ours, there are certain clauses and phrases that aim to create a sense of national pride. “Live free or die,” the state motto of New Hampshire and “The people rule,” state motto of Arkansas, are amongst the few. Perhaps the most famous is the inalienable rights found in the Declaration of Independence, including “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” However, there are actions the government seems to get away with much to the chagrin of the common American.
This past month included the federal tax deadline, and every legal employee who made any amount of money was forced to give a donation to their government, much of which will never be seen again. For example, driving home on smaller highways, one may notice small potholes that like to rip oil pans out from under your car and chew up hub caps. If a good citizen, seeing that this pothole has been in the road for a longer time than it really should, decides to do something about it and fix it himself, he or she can be yelled at and possibly fined for getting tired of waiting around. Where are tax dollars at work here? Also, I don’t ever recall having a free or reduced doctor’s visit, but I seem to be paying for it twice; once at the doctor’s office and again in my taxes. Again, where are the benefits of me paying money I could otherwise use elsewhere?A recent poll showed that out of ten people, ten of them did not enjoy paying taxes, and a common statement was that paying them did not make them happy. Now wait a minute, isn’t that in direct violation of that third inalienable right, the pursuit of happiness? I am trying to be happy, but this tax thing just impedes my progress. These aren’t really rights are they? They seem more like inalienable ideas. If ‘pro’ is the opposite of ‘con,’ then what must the opposite of ‘progress’ be? Congress has a way of making the public feel as if reforms are around the corner when, in reality, they are just collecting our checks and frolicking in the Benjamins. I wouldn’t mind paying taxes if I knew I would later see it in results to improve quality of life in America. The quality of life in areas of the world such as northern Europe and Scandinavia are much higher, as well as their taxes. The difference is that they see their taxes actually going to things people use, such as public transportation which is free in many cases. Some famous guy who said “Live free or die” obviously did not count on living in a country that charges its occupants rent. With Uncle Sam as our landlord, we are really living here for as long as we pay to live here, much like a really really big apartment complex. If you do not pay, you can’t live here, or at least not freely. Sure, you can live in America, but you will experience it from behind the bars of a prison, with other non-taxpayers, murderers, pedophiles, and others who ensure your soap stays roped. Also, what’s going on with social security? We pay a lot to support the elderly, which is great, but wait, our kind and generous forced charity will not be reflected back at the current generation. All it does is take money from young taxpayers to pay off benefits to now-retired taxpayers, but there aren’t enough working taxpayers to recruit to pay off the promised benefits of the retired, since there are more retired people relative to working taxpayers. And so the system will eventually collapse, a classic example of a Ponzi scheme. Here is a statement in the Frequently Asked Questions section of ssa.gov in response to a question asking what social security will be like if you were 26 years old today. “Unless changes are made, when you reach age 60 in 2041, benefits for all retirees could be cut by 22 percent and could continue to be reduced every year thereafter.” “Unless changes are made…” What does that really mean? That’s right: “you are screwed.” According to the same site, if social security is not changed “then by about 2041, payroll taxes will have to be increased, the benefits of today’s younger workers will have to be cut, or some other source of revenue, like transfers from general revenues, will be required.” Translation: “Screwed.” In my first year of paying taxes, I made a, perhaps not-so-surprising, discovery. I noted that even though I made about three times under poverty level this fiscal year, Uncle Sam refused to pull his fist out from where I would rather his fist not be and, thus, I was taxed relentlessly. There are much more reasons why paying taxes sucks hardcore. Hindering various pursuits of happiness, making America seem like a mountain, lake and tree-filled apartment complex, and a joke of a social security system all contribute to a tax system that seriously needs some reform. |
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