Taxes

Mid-April is the traditional deadline for citizens of the United States of America to file their income tax returns.

On a philosophical level, I accept that if people choose to live together under governments, their government is probably going to require some sort of funding. Whether our specific system is good, or even tolerable, remains an open question. I also have a multitude of questions about the specific ways our government chooses to spend MY money.

In April, though, my most pressing tax complaints are simply procedural. Specifically, I find it abhorrent that the government requires me to keep financial records -- or for that matter, ANY records. If the government wants to send me a bill and demand that I pay it, fine. To require ME to keep a detailed accounting of my financial records, and then submit it to the government, to me smacks of self-incrimination, adding insult to injury, and a form of torture. I realize that many, perhaps most, Americans do not give this much thought, or just assume our government has a right to require us to keep records. This, to me, is frightening.

Another thing that frightens me is that many Americans focus on the April pleasure of receiving a tax "refund". An income tax refund is actually YOUR money that the government was wrong to have possessed in the first place, but many people view it as a sort of "gift" from their generous government. I suppose there is something to be said for "looking at the positive", but the money was rightfully yours all along, and the government is just giving it back.

In the interest of philosophical completeness, I guess I should mention that there are a lot of frightening things about taxes. People who question the legality of the current federal income tax are often viewed with ridicule, yet even casual study of the issues involved reveals there are at least some legitimate questions regarding the IRS. While it is true that the legality of the IRS has been upheld in various court cases, courts have often used logic along the lines of: We have had the IRS for quite awhile, and it is really important, therefore it is legal, regardless of what the Constitution might say. Not exactly the most convincing argument in favor of the legality of our current tax code.

I honestly did not intend for this to be a rant about current politics, but I must also mention that with our politicians currently in power in a mood to spend money like drunken sailors -- and they will be spending OUR money, since there is no such thing as "government money" -- they will need to come up with more and more money to pay their bills. Frightening.