I have posted on death latlely, so it only seems right to address the other half of the proverbialy unavoidable twosome:
TAXES

(Cue Beatles tune.)

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HA! Thought all that positive millennium talk last post was going to be the only thing I was pondering on today of all days? You should be so lucky.

April 15th. The day that SHOULD live in infamy.

Every year the same ritual.

You fill out the paperwork, or purchase a computer program to do the computations, or hire what you hope is a competent professional.

The ever increasing series of laws and rules are applied in a calculus that would turn Leibniz and Newton to a gibbering fool. And you place your bet and takes your chances...

And never once do you question if it is right.

Now, lest I be considered some kind of kook, I did not say LEGAL. I said RIGHT.

The great lie of Democracy. That the fact that a majority of people think something should be done means that they (society) have the right to FORCE some individual to do something that individual does not wish.

Before you start in on this, that or the other thing that is justified as a government function, answer me this:

Name a single solitary service that the government provides that it doesn't manage to screw up in the process?
Forget whether it is the most efficient way to deliver that service.
Just a simple service that is not riddled with unintended consequences.
Anybody?

A wise man once put it this way:
"That government governs best which governs least."

The United States was based on three principals of freedom:
Life, Liberty, Property (Hint: That's what 'Pursuit of Happiness' MEANS, every educated person of the day knew that. Nowadays, we lack the education to recognize the fact.)

Bastiat states it in a slightly different way: Life, faculties, production

Read Bastiat:
http://jim.com/jamesd/bastiat.htm
or
http://bastiat.org/en/the_law.html

Listen to Bastiat:
http://www.freeaudio.org/

Go ahead, I'll wait....

Legal Plunder, interesting concept 'eh?

To quote:
"But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime."

Sounds like the Income Tax to me. Hell, sound like the whole damnable government as it exists today.

Take a close look at the constitution. There are several USAGE FEES enumerated within the original text. I have no problem with USAGE FEES. I USE it, I PAY for it.

I DO have a problem with the concept of a tax based on output of my faculties.

And no-one ever even QUESTIONS that the legislatures, local, state or federal should be able to perpetrate such plunder.

The most interesting concept to me when first perusing this treatise was the conceptual/historical relationship of the modern day liberal/progressive/utopians and the royal decree of the past. Their egalitarian rhetoric notwithstanding, they would be the new rulers, and we the people molded to their whim.
It seems so simple, having been stated thus, but the direct heritage of such thought had never occurred to me before.

Ah, but they wish nothing but GOOD for us all.

And it makes no difference, conservative/liberal, Democrat/Republican, they can't help themselves.
As Yakov Smirnoff says:

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Politics
Poli meaning many...
and tics meaning blood sucking parasite...

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And so, each year the tax code grows and grows. And, in truth, NOBODY can really understand it all. (SHHHHHH, don't tell anybody...)

Great system, huh?

Many alternatives have been postulated, the Flat Tax being one of the more popular choices.
This will NEVER happen. The legislature can't INFLUENCE your behavior with a flat tax.

Besides, whatever would the legislators do with their free time after retirement if those lobbying jobs are gone?

Many talk of reducing government.
Which means we cut the planned increase in the budget.
Not actually cut the budget, mind you. Just the INCREASE in the budget.

And then there is my favorite, making you AWARE of how much you pay.
Everything from itemizing tax withholding on your pay-stub to MAKING you actually periodically WRITE a CHECK. (Not a foreign concept to many retired persons, which may explain what a dedicated voting block they represent...)

The Tax Freedom Day people (http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxfreedomday.html) have been figuring out for years just how long you have been working for the government and when you can start keeping some for yourself.
My idea? (Keep in mind this has as much chance as anything else I have mentioned. After which we can all join in the snowball fight you know where...)

No longer do we have a fixed day for Federal, State and Local taxes. Each taxpayer owes such taxes on the individually calculated day, based upon their individual tax bracket, applicable code, etc.
They figure not only what the figure is, but when it is owed and pay then.

Farfetched? Maybe.
An interesting and pointed object lesson in just how crazy a 'system' we have allowed to exist?
I certainly think so.

Crazy? Nah.

Crazy is not getting any take home pay until AFTER your Tax Free Day every year.

Now THAT'S revolutionary! ;-)

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