Taxes & citizenship
04.15.2005This year I file my own taxes. Normally, Dad does it. (Yes, I'm an adult. But he's an accountant; it's what he does for a living (and I'm a firm believer in the principle of division of labor)). But he decided, this year, that his sons were on their own — to do our own taxes.
I put it off, of course, since I'm getting a refund. I know a get a refund every year, and I look forward to it. But I never realized until now that I consistently got refunded all the money Uncle Sam takes from my paychecks. So, essentially, aside from Michigan sales tax (6%), I don't actually pay any taxes. In short, I'm not a "taxpayer citizen".
This is forces me to seriously reconsider some of my positions. Because I don't contribute to a state, even as I make policy demands (implicitly, I'm so not a protest type). Not to mention, of course, that I benefit from public goods (roads, police, fire department, education, etc).
One could argue I contribute by spending money, putting it into the economy. But I'm sure most of that's merely rationalizing the fact that I don't actually give the government any money. Interestingly, though, I've donated more money to charities of various types far in excess what the IRS took from me in 2004. Does that count? I'm not sure.
But I've often wondered whether a state could function primarily on voluntary contributions. Do you think it could? I've no problem giving money away to causes/people I support; I've greater concerns when Uncle Sam's the middle man.
Or am I over-thinking this?
Posted by Miguel at 03:34 PM
Comments
Lookit what surfaced:
http://www.wwmt.com/engine.pl?station=wwmt&id=15809&template=breakout_local.html
Looks like the Kazoo Prosecutor's following through without Buchanan. Good for prosecutor. The salad-tosser ought to get some jail time to have his own salad tossed as a learning experience.
Posted by: tom at April 16, 2005 02:15 AM
I love wikipedia. = )
Posted by: steph at April 16, 2005 05:40 AM
I doubt Salad tossing can be considered a learning experience...
Anyhow... I like this post. To make you feel a little better, the government did get to keep your money for a little while, even if they are refunding it later on. So you can say they invested your money and made interest on it while they had it. Plus do you get all 100% back or just most of it. They also keep your social security money, which you can not get back and some of the other social monies which you do not get back.
Posted by: sam at April 18, 2005 12:15 AM
i think that the fact thatyou dont pay taxes is very intresting, but i really think a government based soley on contributions would not work because people have very different levels of generosity and i think that a lot of contriversy would come from the amount of contribution that people give
Posted by: kevin at April 19, 2005 11:08 AM