Taxation Without Representation

I've been thinking a lot lately about taxes.

The republicans want to present the question of taxation as a debate between the parties. They say the democrats are “tax and spend”.

The fact is that there is no real debate about taxation itself. Neither party likes to pay taxes. No American... I would say that no HUMAN BEING likes paying taxes. And as far as “tax and spend” goes, both parties spend. So if republicans don't tax, then how do they raise the revenue that they're spending? The billions of dollars that the Bush administration committed to pissing away in Iraq... where, exactly is that coming from?

So what is the debate? The debate is over who pays and how much.

The simple fact is that the middle class and the poor are bearing a much more disproportional part of the tax burden than the wealthy. What I mean by that is that if a person who earns a million dollars per year has to pay... say... a hundred thousand of that in taxes, it effects their way of life much less than if a person who earns... say.... thirty thousand per year has to pay three thousand of that in taxes.

For me, though, this entire debate misses a vital point, and that is that the tax code needs to be changed FUNDAMENTALLY. Not simply in who pays and how much, but in it's very NATURE.

For instance, one of my favorite miscarriages of justice is what happened to Al Capone. Thanks to “The Untouchables”, everyone knows about Capone's arch nemesis, Elliot Ness, the brave Federal Agent who brought him down. What's less well known is that Elliot Ness was not an FBI agent, or a secret service agent... he was an IRS agent! That's right, folks. They couldn't convict Capone for any of the hundreds or thousands of robberies and murders he had committed, couldn't bring him down for his numerous violations of prohibition, so they brought him down for not paying his taxes. Personally, that never seemed like a victory to me. It feels more like a failure on the part of our federal government.

And think about this... the federal government can and will incarcerate you for failing to pay your taxes. Personally, that seems like nothing short of extorting money from us to me.

So I think that the first thing that needs to happen with the tax code is that the IRS lose most of it's teeth. They are our employees, and they need to start treating us like their bosses instead of like miscreants.

The second thing is that the tax code needs to be simplified MASSIVELY. And like with gun laws, I think that instead of piling new laws on top of the old bad ones to try to simplify it, they simply need to set an expiration date on the existing tax laws and task congress with passing a new MASSIVELY SIMPLIFIED tax code before they expire.

The next thing is that the government has to stop trying to engineer society through tax law. A married homeowner with kids pays WAY less taxes than I do. We need to stop that. Why should the federal government care that I'm not married, don't own a house, and don't have any kids claimed on my W-2? This is nothing more or less than the government trying to force an outdated moral code on me.

Another thing that needs to happen... and bear in mind that I am, even as I write this, trying to establish my church... is that churches need to lose their tax exempt status. The founders made the church's tax exempt to try to prevent them from meddling in affairs of government. IT HASN'T WORKED. I've seen videos from 2000 and 2004 of ministers telling their flocks that God wanted them to vote for George W. Bush... and that brainwashing WORKED! Modern churches are NOT staying out of government affairs, so they need to pay their taxes like the rest of us. On a separate note, I also think that the confessional seal needs to be subject to subpoena, but that's another argument for another time.

So, idiotic “tax day tea parties” aside, I think that taxation is necessary for our government to operate. Taxes pay for our military. They pay for our schools, our libraries, our prisons, our police and fire departments. They pay for our public welfare system, which includes medicare, medicaid and care for our elderly. Sadly, when we DO succeed in getting the government to cut spending instead of raising taxes, it is schools, libraries and public welfare... the things that should be cut LAST... that are cut first. That needs to change, as well.

What we have in the twenty-first century, folks, is a classic case of taxation without representation. Reasonable tax laws will not be passed as long as the wealthy have access to our lawmakers while the poor do not. Reasonable gun laws will not be passed as long as our elected officials live in gated, guarded communities and work surrounded by guards and metal detectors. Reasonable public education will not exist while they send their kids to private schools. Reasonable public health care will not exist as long as they do not have to worry about it.

Just remember, brothers and sisters... WE are the government. The only way that they will be answerable to us on these issues is if we get involved and MAKE them answerable.

Peace.

Rev. Randal