Taxes, the dreaded report that shows what you paid in federal, state, local (if applicable,) Social Security, and Medicare/Medicaid monies.  Then there is the property tax bill that one pays on their property either with an escrow account or directly to the county treasurer, if you are a lucky homeowner that may have paid off their mortgage.   Every year it seems we get an increase.  Then we have the sales taxes for the products we buy.  These taxes are user taxes.  The more we use the more we pay.  Fuel taxes for example are user taxes. Tolls, Water, Sewer, and Trash fees (User taxes.)  Depending on the state these taxes help support the infrastructure we travel on with cars, motorcycles, and of course the trucking industry that is the life force of our economy. Let’s not forget the Medicaid and Social Security taxes that will fund our retirement/health care. That money is supposed to be ours, not for the right to give away to the rich… Aerosmith had a good song called Eat the Rich… I digress.

Why do people get their panties in a twist when they have to pay taxes?  I think it has to do with not understanding where the money is spent and how they benefit.  Of course there are the consistent issues with not having a balanced budget and seeing our tax dollars being pilfered away on foreign aid, or pork barrel projects like a bridge to nowhere in Alaska or siphoning off the nation’s financial health by overspending on projects not in the public interest.  Examples include the obscenity called ICE, changing the names of everything to make the orange clown happy, or giving the wealthiest corporations and billionaires a huge pay day they don’t need.  I also don’t want to forget the numerous private enterprise schemes for replacing government surplus that ends up costing the tax payers double if not triple what it should actually cost. Finally a bloated defense budget that we could streamline and eliminate the private contractor forces within it. We still have great programs paid by our taxes that serve us well.

One of the biggest infrastructure programs in the United States is transportation.  Highways, bridges, aqueducts, drainage systems, lights, signage, repairs, clean up, and snow or ice removal all cost trillions of dollars to maintain.  Some money comes from fuel taxes, and tolls, but if you look at the budget there are multiple funding streams.  These use fees, sales taxes, licensing fees, etc. all pay for the roads we drive on daily or metro-supported light rail.  Even Amtrak receives federal subsidies.   I won’t even get into air travel.  That is out of my realm of experience, but airports cost tax payers billions.  Red states, most of your roads are being paid for by blue state user fees and fuel taxes.  More people, more tax revenue.  I-20 in Alabama was not paid for by Alabama by its lonesome.  Neither was I-65.  If you go out West to I-90 in Montana was that paid by Montana taxes or the whole countries taxes? There is so much more to digest here… The size of this budget and the needs of it are just mind boggling. Have you seen the Chicago Transit Authority Budget. I looked at it once… It changed my mind on many things concerning the city.

Oh, you live in a rural county 100 miles away from the nearest interstate.  All you have are county gravel roads, paved roads and state roads.   Your federal and state districts receive federal and state tax monies for infrastructure improvements.  Otherwise the 1,500 of you living in that county would have no way to replace the many bridges over creeks and ditches to transport the grain you produce. Then you have townships grading those roads, enforcing weight limits, and plowing them when the snow and ice comes. Just a little bit of your property taxes at work.  Shut your face.  Pay your taxes.   Some of my tax money supports your way of life.  I need you.  You need me.  Spit out your Copenhagen and accept this fact.  You feed us, but we support your infrastructure.  Even the rural counties of Illinois and Iowa get more than double back what they pay. Go check out the Simon Research project on tax revenue expenditures New Illinois fans. Your rural counties get about $2.50 back for every dollar spent. The suburbs of Chicago get about 50 cents for every dollar spent in taxes. Chicagoans get 95 or so cents back for every dollar. The metropolitan areas are supporting the rural areas financially. You need the Metro areas to survive. It isn’t just about Chicago. https://www.wrul.com/local-news/paul-simon-institute-says-southern-illinois-gets-more-from-springfield-than-they-send/

Property taxes are a necessary item.  I like having public libraries for all to use.  I enjoy having fire department and police department services.  A local hospital is quite a privilege to have in an era of medical capitalism.  Schools are a necessity. An educated populace free of religious interference benefits us all. Education is the most expensive item on most property tax charges. Imagine if we spent 5% of the civil defense budget on education. What would it save the tax payer on property taxes? How many more teachers could be hired? How many bond issues could be paid off? What about your levy districts to protect towns and cities from catastrophic floods. I remember paying around 5 cents per $100 assessed value for my levy maintenance in Fulton, IL. Worth every penny. Wouldn’t it be nice to just pay taxes instead of insurance and that medical care was there regardless of your address?   Don’t give me an excuse that you deserve your property tax revenues to supplement your kid’s private education. Nope private education is a privilege. Public education is a right. Stop defunding the public schools for your pithy selfishness.

I wrote a blog about subsidies some time ago.  The billions of dollars in tax monies being fronted to industries and companies who then bypass paying taxes on their profits.  I pay my fair share.  Why can’t the company pay its fair share?  Industries create jobs with those tax breaks is the single greatest lie I have ever heard. Investment in a community creates jobs. Not tax breaks, rebates, or avoidance of paying property taxes. How many power companies in the United States that contest property taxes over land use come up in your local news. I know a nuclear power station close by that weasels out of property taxes on several school districts.  What about oil companies?  Do they pay their fair share of property taxes on land that produces energy?  I sincerely doubt it.  If they had to pay the same tax rate as all of the people we would be able to save billions on healthcare.  BTW, why do energy companies in the United States have to be private? Why not state owned… I’m thinking about Europe… No more insurance costs, no more contract negotiations on said insurance costs.  Focus on education and salary for the  work force.  Simple reallocation of wealth to support the whole community.  Why do the shareholders need a 25% dividend? Why do CEO’s need 7-8 figure salaries?  If the bottom 25% are not struggling to live, eat, and survive will we not be better off all the way around?  A Safer, cleaner, and happier working class seems like a healthy investment.  Why does the president need a solid gold toilet?  He excretes just like the rest of us.  I bet it smells just as bad too.  Basic porcelain is all you need. Anything more is just… waste…

Billionaires need to pay taxes that place them back into the millionaire sect.  Having that much money is pure corruption.   You buy your politics to remain in power.  There is no motivation to do better by the general public.  It is a conflict of the world interest.   I would gladly pay more in taxes as I am making more money.  It will help my community.  The place I live matters.  The people who are my neighbors matter.  I will gladly pay more taxes if I am making millions or billions of dollars.   I would also give money away to local causes that serve the greater community.  How can anyone spend a billion dollars?I don’t need to go to the moon, Mars, etc.  I would rather provide free broadband for my community through a trust.  Public service before private ambition should be our world motto.

Priorities…   That is why I pay taxes.  Why do I oppose the republicans and the waste of orange spray paint?  Their priorities are backwards.  It’s vanity guised as goodness.  Greed disguised as charity (We earned this.)  Godliness designed like  a bad pair of shoes.  Power designed like the autocrats of the early 20th century.  We should have never let this putrid filth rise again in this country. Thieves they are, stealing from the public coffer for their neoliberal lifestyles.

Stop bitching about your taxes.  I know many people who pay less than I do bitch and whine about their hard earned money being wasted.  Stop bitching…   I see 300 children a day who are depending on you to pay those taxes so that they can clean up our mess when they grow up.  Stop believing the lie of trickledown economics.  Stop believing the rich and corporate.  Make them pay their taxes, so we have to work a little less hard for that very little bit we want to make our lives easier…   Aerosmith again… Eat the Rich…

…so it goes…