On Oct 28, 2008, at 6:37 PM, Ronn! Blankenship wrote: > At 03:47 PM Tuesday 10/28/2008, Wayne Eddy wrote: >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "John Williams" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> To: "Killer Bs (David Brin et al) Discussion" <[email protected]> >> Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 2:31 AM >> Subject: Re: Redistribute the wealth >> >> >>> Bruce Bostwick <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>> >>> >>> [rationalizations deleted] >>> >>>> and even if I were able to >>>> contribute over and above what I'm legally obligated to, it would >>>> basically just be wasted at the moment. >>> >>>> The system >>>> doesn't work that way, so for now at least, I contribute what's >>>> required and leave it at that, >>> >>> But you don't mind paying taxes that are wasted? >> >> Considering income tax to be your money just causes a lot of >> unnecessary >> angst. >> It is money that you never have. It is your nett income that >> determines >> what you can afford to buy and your lifestyle. > > > That is one way of looking at it. Other people I have heard suggest > that the government is simply making it more convenient for you to > pay some of your bills rather than you having to figure out how much > to send each month individually to the department of transportation > to build and maintain your roads, the police and fire departments for > protecting you, the armed forces for protecting you from foreign > invasions, etc. . . . > > (There are probably good points and bad points to both ways of > looking at it, and the "truth" may be some combination of the > two . . . ) > > > . . . ronn! :)
Yet another perspective is that *you are the government*, at least theoretically, and the taxes you pay individually go to support the activities of the government of which you are a (however tiny) collective contributing part. I tend to see it that way, at least. I could do with a bit more cooperative representation on the part of my Senate/House "representation", in terms of making that aspect of my citizenship a little more real and a little less theoretical, but at least in a technical sense, I'm still part of the government as much as I am a citizen. It often feels like I'm a subject at the mercy of the government's whims, but that, taken to too much of an extreme, is sort of a self-correcting problem, isn't it? _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
