-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.zolatimes.com/V3.14/pageone.html <A HREF="http://www.zolatimes.com/V3.14/pageone.html">Laissez Faire City Times - Volume 3 Issue 14 </A> ----- The Laissez Faire City Times April 5, 1999 - Volume 3, Issue 14 Editor & Chief: Emile Zola ----- Tax Day?--Tax Days! by Sunni Maravillosa It�s that time of year again, when headache-relief and antacid consumption increases, when H & R Block ads air with annoying frequency, and the talk around the office water cooler turns to refunds and payments interspersed with the de rigueur grumbling about taxes. Most Americans seem to get a perverse pleasure out of complaining about the income tax and the IRS, and rightly so�the income tax is the most visible manifestation of the government�s money grab, and the IRS has earned its reputation for brutality and vindictiveness. Even most individuals who believe the myth that government must provide certain services will grant that the IRS regularly exceeds its bounds. So, the focus that gets placed on "tax day" is understandable. However, there are problems associated with this seasonal focus on taxes. One problem is that the annual ritual of bitching about taxes has become just that�a ritual for most Americans, one that inspires almost the same amount of critical thinking as the phrase "have a nice day". A corollary problem concerns the time frame of this ritual. Just like Christmas or Halloween decorations, the receipts, forms, and tax advertisements are trotted out, and after April 15 attention to the tax issue fades as baseball season or lawn care or some other ritual looms on the horizon. This pattern blurs the impact of the federal income tax because it encourages citizens to focus on whatever happens in April, rather than the regular theft of their earnings over the year. A more serious problem with the annual income tax-bashing ritual is that it focuses on only one aspect of the tax monster that daily ravages every individual living in the United States. The federal income tax and the IRS thugs who enforce it are certainly deserving of attention and scorn, but that tax is only one of many taxes we are burdened with. Depending upon where an individual lives and the laws in effect there, other taxes can include: social security; Medicare; customs duties; excise; luxury; state income; state sales; local income; local sales; estate; inheritance; gasoline; "sin" (taxes on cigarettes and alcohol); property; capital gains; interest income; gift; utilities (telephone in particular); beverage container (aluminum and/or glass); hotel occ upancy; and tax increases resulting from bonds floated to support things such as schools, infrastructure maintenance and improvement (sewage and other waste disposal, street repair and lighting, etc.), and a variety of social programs. These are taxes that each consumer pays directly. There are more taxes that individuals bear the costs of, being passed along to us in the form of increased prices for goods and services: regulatory taxes on industries such as trucking, farming, banking, and flying; import taxes; and a range of corporate taxes. I am sure that in my research I have missed a tax or two as well. Adding Up the Costs How do all these taxes add up? Besides the obvious response of "quickly!", various means have been devised for expressing the scope of a typical American�s tax burden. The Tax Foundation ( http://www.taxfoundation.org/), a non-profit, non-partisan organization devoted to studying tax issues, offers a variety of informative measures. The first is "Tax Freedom Day"�the day on which the typical American has worked enough to pay her share of federal, state, and local taxes for a year, and the rest of her income goes in her pocket. In 1998, Tax Freedom Day was May 10�in other words, the typical American worked 130 days to pay taxes. Another way to look at tax costs is to calculate the number of hours per eight-hour workday that the average American spends working to pay taxes. By this measure, an American spends almost 3 hours each workday paying taxes. That�s longer than the time needed to pay for household-related items (including housing itself), food, and clothing combined. Another group, Americans for Tax Reform (http://www.atr.org/), calculates the "Cost of Government Day", which includes all taxes as well as other costs of government that individuals ultimately bear, including federal regulatory costs (e.g., EPA mandates, affirmative action compliance, laws that increase business costs, etc.). Including these costs, in 1998 a typical American worked to pay for the government�s activities (federal, state, and local) until June 25�almost half the year. Paying, and Paying, and Paying� Looked at in this light, it should be obvious that our tax situation is completely out of control. How did things get so bad? Most of the creeping encroachment of taxes into a person�s income is done in ways that are hidden, so we don�t see the direct effect of many tax increases. A paycheck has certain federal, state, and local deductions taken automatically�the payee never gets the entire amount earned. Those deductions are listed, and people grumble about how much Uncle Sam takes out, but do you think most people would only grumble if they received their full salary in one line, then had to step over to another line to pay all those taxes? Similarly, taxes on things like gasoline, cigarettes, and liquor are added in to the retail price, so unless one knows how much the tax is on these items, it�s almost impossible to separate that price into tax and product cost. Even a tax resistor�who doesn�t pay the government�s extortion thugs, and tries to operate outside the economy as much as possible�pays many taxes, either directly or indirectly. Some might think I am being unnecessarily harsh�after all, we can get income tax refunds, which lessens the load. Yeah, right. The refund that a person might get from his federal and state income taxes paid all year is only a portion of the total tax collected, and most of those taxes he will never see again�never get refunded, nor will he benefit directly from them. What about all the politicians who say they�re for tax reform? Get real. The Americans for Tax Reform sponsors a "Taxpayer Protection Pledge," which is a written pledge that state and federal legislators can sign to show their commitment to oppose efforts to increase taxes. According to their web site, about 250 congresspeople have signed the pledge. How lovely. So we�ve nothing to fear, right? Wrong. Virtually all the bills that come before Congress have some kind of spending proposal in them, and these bills are so long and complex that it�s impossible for a legislator to read and understand each one before the vote is taken. That pledge is one more promise made today, forgotten tomorrow. All the money government steals is money that someone else worked for, and which that individual won�t get to use, to improve his life, or for whatever he wants to do with it. That�s "opportunity cost," and it compounds just like interest, except in this case it�s a corrosive cost on the quality of life. Government�s power comes from its power to tax, and the more it taxes, the less economic freedom there is. While you�re griping with the rest this month, instead of putting away the tax topic after April 15, bring it up again on May 10�Tax Freedom Day. And don�t forget June 25�Cost of Government Day. It�s okay if you are a little late celebrating these momentous days; chances are good that the tax bite has increased, and the dates are pushed back even further this year. If you vote, election day is a good day to bring up the issue� Hell, in America, every day is tax day. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sunni Maravillosa is a psychology professor, a writer, and the web mistress for the Liberty Round Table. -30- from The Laissez Faire City Times, Vol 3, No 14, April 5, 1999 ----- Published by Laissez Faire City Netcasting Group, Inc. Copyright 1998 - Trademark Registered with LFC Public Registrar All Rights Reserved Disclaimer The Laissez Faire City Times is a private newspaper. Although it is published by a corporation domiciled within the sovereign domain of Laissez Faire City, it is not an "official organ" of the city or its founding trust. Just as the New York Times is unaffiliated with the city of New York, the City Times is only one of what may be several news publications located in, or domiciled at, Laissez Faire City proper. 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