For our family’s productivity in 2006 alone, we are forced/extorted by the US governments to pay a total of $26,546 (twenty-six thousand, five hundred and forty-six dollars). This does not include any sales taxes, hidden taxes included in our utility bills and other goods and services we purchased, or our time spent keeping records to defend ourselves. This was based on an adjusted gross income somewhere in the low $80,000’s. We paid a CPA an additional $600 to try to understand the bizarre IRS laws, and prepare our taxes.
Our federal portion was $14,595, and our state (California) portion was a surprisingly low $1,115. Our Medicare bill was $600, our Real Estate taxes were a whopping $7,314 (on a 1500 sq.ft. home, and we don’t even have any children), our social “security” bill was $2,564, and our state disability insurance bill was $331.
Other people may see these numbers and think I got off pretty easy, while others will be shocked at how much their neighbors are being attacked. We are not criminals or charity cases, so we do not burden society at all, but rather create wealth and improve it.
It should be obvious to everyone that the US governments have ballooned way beyond their proper purpose, and all productive people are being bled to pay others entitlements for making bad life choices. Even though the US is still the freest country in the world (based on the respect for individual rights), it’s no excuse for some US citizens to eat/farm/enslave/persecute other people.
Governments have a monopoly on the use of force. If I were to refuse to pay even a portion of my taxes, I would eventually be shot and killed if I tried to defend my earned property or myself against incarceration. This is why I pay my taxes.
Yet I find it incredible that US citizens keep supporting raising taxes over the years. It’s obvious that many politicians convince people that the cause of their (relative) poverty is the “rich” (defined as anyone who makes 10% more than you), and that they have the moral (via Kant and Marx) right to attack the wealth that others have created.
Please spend a few minutes and add up your withholding and tax bill to understand how much you’re getting penalized for creating wealth for others to consume. Please vote for any and all tax reductions, and don’t allow any further tax increases.