Death & Taxes

Tonight, I paid a guy to come to the house and prepare my returns, and everything went as expected. I knew I was going to owe some money to both the fed and the state, so it wasn't a big deal, and I'm not particularly annoyed about having to write the check. Hey, I earned some money, and it takes money to run the government, so I'm OK with pitching in. What does bother me, however, is the amount of time and money that Americans are forced to waste in order to comply with our tax system, and the fact that our tax system is used not only as a means of collecting the money needed to pay for services and benefits, but as a tool with which politicians and bureaucrats try to engineer our society and economy. If taxes are part of our lives as citizens, then every citizen should pay, and no person should pay more than another, relatively speaking, simply because some politician or bureaucrat thinks they should. That's why I believe in a national sales tax, as a replacement to the present system, not in addition to the present system. The point of our existence as humans or citizens is NOT to pay taxes. Paying taxes is not a moral act, it is a contract between people and a government for services. That's it, and if you look at it otherwise, or accept that the government has as right to your money, you have resigned your society to tyranny in the end. If taxes are collected on EVERYTHING that is sold, with the exception of food, medicine, health insurance, and a few other life necessities, and we exempt no one, it will tie the income of the govt to the prosperity and confidence of the people, and it will take one more method of abuse of power from that govt., both being desirable results. If a person saves their money, they will accumulate wealth. If they spend it, they won't. Think of how much simpler life would be. If there were no income or corporate taxes, there would be no loopholes to benefit certain groups. The poor, who actually get more from govt. than they contribute, would pay their fair share, based on the prices of things they can afford, and the rich would contribute an equal percentage, although a greater amount, based on the expensive things they purchase. Accountants would only be needed by businesses to keep management honest to owners/shareholders, etc., and to pay the taxes they collected from sales. If everything a company bought was taxed, and there were no deductions, for the purpose of the tax system, life would be better for everybody. As things stand now, entrepreneurs, inventors, business owners, and all the people who create the wealth of nations spend far too much energy and thought about taxes. Imagine how much more vibrant our economy would be, if those people focused 100% of that economic energy on doing and making things. Consider, too, the unifying effect that such a system would have, by taking away class warfare from the politicians. The poor envy the rich, and the rich resent the poor, and why is that? Who does it serve? 'Not the rich, and not the poor. As I send-off the check to Washington, DC, I don't resent the poor person who doesn't pay any taxes, because he has no money, and I don't resent the rich person who doesn't pay any taxes, because he has a good accountant. Me, I resent the people in Washington, DC, who have divided, conquered and enslaved us all to their will, and to the tax system that it created, for it's own benefit, not ours.

The Feds vs UBS

I guess Swiss banking giant, UBS, and US federal regulators have come to some kind of a settlement, wherein the bank will disclose the names of American clients holding accounts offshore, so they can be fined and/or prosecuted. Most news agencies report this as some kind of victory for the country, but we should never be so naive as to confuse the government of the United States' interests with those of the American people.
This, along with coming Obama tax hikes and regulations, will only serve to convince the wealthy to actually leave the country, and to take the economic power of their money elsewhere. Just like most things the Democrats do, IRS's policies will only end-up hurting the average American, by sending companies and jobs overseas, and driving what capital that does stay into passive situations. If the wealthy don't trust the government, or feel unwelcome in a country, the leave, and they take prosperity with them. I wonder who the Democrats actually work for.