The tax man taketh

It is time for me to pay my taxes again. As someone that is self-employed, I have to pay quarterly estimated taxes, so this happens 4 times a year. One of the things that gets me (it's a mental thing) is paying taxes in such huge chunks. Salaried employees have taxes withheld and in theory, the total withholdings equals the total tax, so the money comes out in small increments and people don't end up with a huge tax bill. Being self-employed, my income varies each year. If I have a good year, I end up with a big fat bill. If I have a year worse than the previous year, I get a refund.

Enough about the technical side of paying taxes. When I write the check (figuratively, not literally as I pay my taxes online so the check doesn't get lost in the mail), I always think about what my taxes buy me. Really, nothing that helps me. You might be asking, what about the roads I drive on? Or the police? Or the fire department? OK, I'll give you that, but isn't some of that funded by sales tax, property taxes, and state income tax? What is the federal government giving me? Here's my list:

  • 1 war in Iraq
  • 1 war in Afghanistan
  • 1 partially finished border fence
  • 1 bailout of Bear Stearns
  • 1 bailout of "greedy" lenders and borrowers (hey, the news used the word "greedy" last night to describe them)
  • 1 fleet of very, very expensive presidential helicopters (now costing something like $11 billion when the budget was $6 billion)
  • 1 questionable detention facility in Cuba
  • And lots more stuff that doesn't do me any good...

Wow, with that list, I should be more than happy to give the government more money! I reluctantly pay my taxes because if I didn't, they'd nail me faster than Al Capone.

Comments

March 18th, 2008
Tyler

I think someone is forgetting about the men and woman that protect this nation so you can sleep in peace at night. Both wars are needed, especially in Afghanistan, again, national defense. That news channel probably wasn't a Fox News channel, they are the only fair and balanced news and wouldn’t do something like that.

March 18th, 2008
Scott Gruby

The list is mine; the news was talking about the greedy lenders and borrowers.

I’ll let you have your opinion that the war was necessary; I’m not of that opinion. The wars aren’t solving anything and will have our military in those countries for decades.