The Privilege of Paying Taxes

In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes. Thus wrote Benjamin Franklin, way back when. In latter days, Marvin Gaye made it ‘taxes, death and trouble’. It’s been said that taxation with representation ain't so hot either!

Many today are ‘tax anarchists’ or ‘tax protesters’, believing Government has no right to ‘their’ money, and in fact is illegally confiscating it (US Constitution aside). Some refuse to pay taxes, some engage in schemes using onshore and offshore trusts in order to hide income, some attack the IRS and its’ agents. Some advocate ‘targeted’ taxes, paying only for those government programs they approve of. Will Rogers said ‘tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has’. The role of the government, according to the Constitution, is to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty. Some things become a common burden, being for what is considered the common good. I, for instance, never had children, yet I pay taxes which, in part, provide for public education. I get no direct benefit from this, as I have no kids in school, but indirectly society (and therefore, my life) is improved. So OK, here’s the money.

But about this ‘my’ money argument.... come on! In reality, government has created the environment in which you make the money, and (whether you acknowledge it or not) government programs have helped ‘promote the general (and your) welfare’. Surely your income is derived somewhat from the benefits of, for instance, mail delivery, interstate commerce, or electricity! All these made available courtesy of the government. Do you like 911 service, having your kids in school, that bridge across the river, or police and fire protection? Thank your fellow taxpayers.

The electrification of rural America changed the landscape. Electric lights and modern appliances made life easier and farms more productive. Electricity also drew industry to depressed regions, providing desperately needed jobs. Financed by the American taxpayer.

Government-subsidized air mail revenues were crucial to the formation of the first airlines as they struggled to develop and provide passenger service. Financed by the American taxpayer.

The Interstate Highway System (patterned, by the way, after Nazi Germany’s autobahn) has contributed significantly to the national economy, helped ensure national defense, and improved the quality of life of all Americans. Financed by the American taxpayer.

All these programs had their detractors, but are only a few examples of how government intervention has created the environment in which most of us succeed (government, by the way did invent the internet!).

So in this tax season, as you labor over your IRS Tax Form 5695, or Form 8863, or 4952, or 1098-C, don’t bemoan the paying of taxes, but be grateful you live under a form of government that has allowed you (and millions of other ordinary citizens) to enjoy the highest standard of living the world has ever witnessed. As President Franklin D. Roosevelt put it, ‘Taxes, after all, are dues that we pay for the privileges of membership in an organized society.’