Kent G. wrote: > And when you pay a tax for some kind of service you either get or > potentially get for free if you use it counts against the total tax > percentage because you are receiving the equivalent of a cash payment you > would have had to pay for out of your own pocket prior to most of the last > century.
Good point. I pay property taxes, but my son attends a perfectly wonderful school with VERY good teachers not four blocks from my home, essentially for free (apart from a bit of nickel-and-diming). Also, the city collects my trash and, just today, came around and sucked up all my dead leaves for me. You could argue that a lot of tax money goes for things that benefit us. For example, I don't pay directly for roads, yet I certainly enjoy using them with my car. I don't pay directly for streetlights. I don't pay directly for the privilege of having a standing army, navy, air force, coast guard, and reserves to protect my country, state, city, and myself and my son from hostile invasion. If a fire starts, I don't have a personal fire truck on call to come as quickly as possible. If I'm in danger, nice men in blue uniforms with guns will come quickly. They won't even ask for any money when they leave. I'm also personally very grateful that OTHER peoples' children are being educated, at least marginally. I would not want to live in a society where any substantial portion of the population--which might include people I have to deal with in business or to get services--had received no education at all. It's bad enough as it is! <s> --Mike - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
