Proud that today my family was able to contribute to our country and society by paying our taxes. I agree with Vice President Biden that it is patriotic to pay your taxes because it enables our country to function. When the people protest taxes it is my contention that they are being disingenuous.
As individuals gather and assemble today to protest taxes please allow me to rebut at least one of their arguments - "taxes" should not be our protest - let's at least have an honest debate.
A friend from the debate community posted this on my facebook page in response to my status:
I pay taxes so that the california legislature can keep succumbing to and financing the unions, educating and providing healthcare to illegal aliens and create an unsustainable size of beurocracy.
The Republican Party will continue to protest taxes. The qualm isn't with higher taxes. The qualm is higher taxes due to x, y and z. Which represent governments wasteful spending. Especially in local government you can pick out the issues one by one which lead to a direct raise in taxes, fees, etc. and that is where republicans are protesting.
Furthermore, many are also angered by the fact that under Obamas new tax plan 50% of tax payers will not only not pay taxes, they will receive money back as a tax credit. Its obamanomics, don't pay in but take out.
Some may be proud to pay their taxes at the bottom, but more often than not... it is the middle class and the wealthy that are sustaining the tax burden. It's all fine and dandy, until you're the one paying a few hundred thousand or more.
First, our system would pretty much break down if we got to pick and choose which taxes we pay and do not pay? We would all disagree with each other and nothing would get done - which is the point of the video:
Why should I be paying taxes for the fire department? They have not visited my house once in over two years - so how about I do not pay those taxes. Wait - what if I need the fire department tomorrow? What if my neighbor who did need the fire department did not have it available and their house burned down which burned my house down. What if when the wildfires were burning within miles of my house and ash rained down on our cars the fire department did not have the equipment it needed to fight against the flames? Oh, that's right, my taxes helped prepare those brave men and women who fought the flames for my family's safety.
The original tea party was not so much a protest "against taxes on tea" it was a protest against taxation without representation. As long as our legislators are duly elected (which last time I checked the California Legislature was) I do not think our society will function well when I get to pick and choose what taxes I pay for and which ones I do not. If I only sent in 75% of my tax bill because I disagreed with 25% of the spending in our state the system would be crippled. And those "non-wasteful" spending programs that my friend does support would likely be underfunded because other people do think they are "wasteful."
Ultimately, the protest/debate should not be about "Taxes" it should be about the wasteful spending. We probably disagree on what is wasteful - which is why we have elected representatives and debate. However, to protest the abstract notion of taxes is disingenuous and counterproductive in my view. At least Jindal was honest when he said he didn't like "something called 'volcano monitoring.'" Let's have that debate. He can lay out his arguments why monitoring volcanoes that can kill us all is wasteful and we can answer his arguments. Debating "taxes" hides the protester's arguments behind a veil of abstraction. Tell us, instead, those "x, y, and z" wasteful spending programs and we will debate them. Otherwise it is not an honest debate.