Blue Collar Muse

I was thinking the other day, as the calendar rolled over to October, that it was about that time … time to think about getting together the odds and ends of records - income and expenses - that are necessary to file my taxes. As a Christian, I’m sorry to use such base language in what is usually a fairly family friendly blog but, even in polite or mixed company, it is still whispered now and then, “Taxes …” If you listen carefully, you can even hear the drawn out “S”, giving the word a slightly reptilian feel and hearkening back to that other deceiver in The Book who promised paradise but in reality destroyed the one we already had and never delivered as promised.

Over the years I’ve heard folks say that they enjoy the Spring. Not only does the weather warm up but they get their tax refund check and can’t wait for that letter in the mail or notice in their inbox that the Direct Deposit has hit! They really need the cash and it seems an eternity since last year’s Springtime bonanza hit their wallet. Having just come from Reno last week, the phrase “hitting the jackpot” seems appropriate.

And it is in more ways than one. It is an accepted maxim in the gambling industry that the house never loses. They don’t mind paying since they know how the game works. If the lights and bells go off, the rest of the house just gambles more furiously hoping they’ll be next. Each time we get that check from the government that we so eagerly await, we’re trained, like Pavlov’s dogs, to start the cycle all over again and wait for next year’s check.

The problem, of course, is that both the casino and the government are playing with our money. That they don’t mind occasionally giving a little of it back to keep us in the game and contributing more than we carry off is part of the deception. In the garden, the serpent whispered to Eve that she shouldn’t worry about that whole “death” thing, not at all. Not only would she not die, but she would, in fact (and this part was true) be like God and know good from evil. Thinking only of herself Eve ate and encouraged Adam to do so as well. The world is in the mess it is today because of it.

What in heaven’s name (pun intended) does this have to do with taxes? The government, like the casinos, whisper to us about the big jackpot just ahead and the big check once a year and we do what Eve did, we think of ourselves and happily play the game. We roll the dice to turn $10 into $100 and fret and pace each day our tax check is delayed and never once do we think that if we just kept our original $10 or didn’t have to have withholding taken out of our checks each week we’d have both more money now and more money all year long! Money for our needs all along the way and not a year spent scrimping and fretting about not having that extra $50 to pay the Water Bill when it’s due and so next week it’s the Water Bill and the Late Charges. We don’t have our own money to spend and so it costs us even more. But it’s not for lack of making money. It’s because the government taxes our income and it goes away before we ever know it is there. It’s called Federal Withholding.

There’s a remedy, though. It’s called The Fair Tax. Once it passes, Withholding becomes a thing of the past. In fact, almost all of the taxes taken out of your paycheck go away. If you earn $400 or $4000 per week then your check is for $400 or $4000. You only pay the tax when you actually go out and purchase something new at retail price. So if you need an extra $50 this week for the Water Bill, you can move around your spending as you choose to pay that bill instead of the government forcing you to make the best of several bad choices.

True, that once a year check goes away. And April 15th becomes just another day. But the sweet part is that each and every week you have more cash in YOUR pocket to spend the way you want on your needs. After the Fall, The Book records that Adam was cursed and that he would now have to labor and earn his living by the sweat of his brow and the strength of his back. Unsaid, but clearly seen in reality is that he dldn’t get back all that he expended. The punishment for Original Sin was sort of like an Original Tax on Income. Later, a Savior would come and take away the burden that sin laid on humanity. While it’s not a Savior, The Fair Tax does lift the burden that government lays on our shoulders and does nothing but increase every year. That seems like a good bet from here.

Thinking that our current tax laws make the wages of productivity, if not death, then at least severely crippling …

Blue Collar Muse

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 16th, 2007 at 10:00 am and is filed under Business, Fair Tax, Family, Taxes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.