$39.5 trillion and counting…
Response from HRP admin, Jeff Kurtz
Paying one’s “fair share” of taxes has far more to do with reimbursing our civilzation consumption costs than the percentages presented in the original post.
We rely on a well-functioning civilization in order to survive. Those who say they live “off-the-grid” are fooling themselves if they believe they have somehow escaped civilization. The truth is, there is no escaping our reliance on what civilization offers. For example, the food you eat was grown, processed, packaged and delivered by those who have expertise in these areas. The utensils you use to eat with was crafted by someone else. The table and chair you use at dinner was made by someone else. Your running water, electricity, refrigeration… all provided by someone else. You have been educated by others. Government provides a host of services that eases and improves your life. And though our government could do much better, without government, things would be much worse. And all of these benefits are not free. Civilization carries a cost, and everyone must pay their civilization consumption costs.
As persons become wealthier, they take greater advantage of the benefits supplied by our flexibly cooperative civilization. Not only do they purchase more material assets (more cars, yachts, personal aircraft), they often own businesses that employ people who also rely on the benefits of society in order to relieve the stresses of life which ultimately makes them productive employees. Employees wouldn’t be productive if they were forced to fend for themselves without the goods and services that provide the comforts and conveniences in life. A flexibly cooperative society provides greater leisure time and reduces stress. So, when we consider all employees who serve a particular wealthy person, there is a multiplicity factor for that person’s civilization consumption costs. Employees who are less stressed are more productive in their jobs. Also, employees couldn’t get to work without systems of transportation all provided by countless others with expertise in these areas. Add the office building construction and maintenance, digital computer technologies and networks, telecommunications, and the list goes on and on and on.
Of course, it is easy to take the benefits of civilization for granted. But everyone on our planet consumes civilization and must therefore pay their fair share of civilization consumption costs.
The concept of a “tax break” suggests taxes impose a burden on people and our government provides “breaks” to relieve that burden. But this concept reflects biases that don’t approve of taxes. Most people who understand government’s responsibility to serve people by honoring our nation’s “Social Contract” believe taxes should never be considered a burden. Rather, taxes represent payment to government for goods and services that enable its citizens to live comfortably and safely in a civilized society. As Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. said, “I like to pay taxes. With them, I buy civilization.”
“Tax breaks” or “tax relief” also suggest that our government has somehow imposed unfair charges upon its citizens and we should claim deductions to recover these unreasonable overcharges. And admittedly, this may be true. Relying on knowledge acquired from past tax seasons, the IRS likely increases our base taxes knowing a certain percentage of taxpayers will claim legal (yet immoral) deductions, and that a disproportionate number of high income taxpayers will exploit tax loopholes to their legal limits.
Here are the reasons why I believe we need to eliminate all of the ways people can currently avoid paying their fair share of civilization costs:
Fact 1: Civilization costs money. The services provided by government come at a cost. These refer to roads, railway system, national parks, education, law enforcement, fire departments, department of defense, social security, unemployment, food/drug/energy/health regulations, and a host of other services.
Fact 2: Nothing in our world is truly free. Someone will pay the costs of civilization. Because the goods and services supplied by government costs money, somebody will inevitably pay for it.
Fact 3: The middle class generally file their own taxes and do not employ the services of tax consultants, tax accountants and tax lawyers. The Commerce Clearing House (CCH) estimates that the current US tax code is over 70,000 pages long. This makes it impossible to find and utilize every single deduction we may be entitled to. And the average person doesn’t have the time, patience or skills to research all of this complex tax code to find deductions and maximize their tax relief. Many don’t even claim their standard deductions.
Fact 4: In contrast, the wealthy apply far more resources than the middle class to take advantage of tax deductions, tax breaks, and tax loopholes. Consequently, they pay disproportionately less in taxes relative to income.
Fact 5: Because the wealthy have greater income and correspondingly greater taxes, tax breaks disproportionately favor them.
So, rather than eliminate or reduce taxes, we simply need to fix our tax structure in a manner that prevents the wealthiest to avoid paying their fair share of “Civilization Costs”.
Richard A. Nichols III:
Human Reform Politics Well said. And that’s why the people who cry “taxation is theft” are all retarded.
No tax -> no police -> no law enforcement -> no laws -> no civilization -> no career and income that you’re complaining about being taxed on in the first place.
