The subject of taxation came up at work the other day, and as usual, it got me all riled up. Which isn't very hard to do. If you know me, you know that I can get a bit excited about certain issues. And this happens to be one of them. This particular person actually thinks that he owns his home! Imagine that...owning something you've paid for! Here's how the conversation went:
Me: "So you paid your house off?"
Him: "Yep, I'm free and clear. I finally own it instead of the bank."
I chuckle. "Really? You own it now?"
Him: "Yeah, of course. I don't have a mortgage anymore."
Me: "What about the taxes you still have to pay on it?"
He shrugs. "What about them? I still own the house."
Me: "I wonder who would own your house if you chose not to pay your property taxes."
His eyebrows rose at that. Apparently, he hadn't thought of that before. And I do realize I was being a downer by bringing this up to him after he was so excited about paying his house off. But the issue of property taxes--and taxes in general--is a very hot topic right now.
In the middle ages, a king or lord would levy a property tax on the people they ruled over. If you "owned" land, you paid a tax on it. Well last I heard, we lived in a republic represented by the people. We're not in a fiefdom here. We don't pay tribute to a king. So why are we subjected to such a feudal system of taxation? I understand paying taxes on the things you purchase, houses and property included, but once you've paid something off you should own it.
Obviously, property taxes are used to fund certain public services such as schools, libraries, fire and public safety departments, and parks. Some of these are are important, some are not (i.e. public libraries). How many people actually go to the library anymore? And for those of you that said, "I do!" how many of you have actually checked out a book instead of renting a movie or video game? How about police departments? I live in Palm Bay, FL, and it seems the only thing Palm Bay cops do is write tickets. They sure as hell don't respond to emergency calls in a timely manner. So basically tax payers in my city pay to be cited for traffic violations. Not saying police aren't important, just saying they should remember who pays their salaries and quit being douche bags.
The reach of the government has become so long that people cannot even
practice their profession without paying to do so. My wife is a
cosmetologist, and each year she is required to pay a license fee in
order to legally practice a vocation she has already gone to school
for. Seriously? Twenty years ago, anyone could be a barber. Just open
a shop and start cutting hair. If you didn't like your haircut, you
didn't go back to that barber. Seems pretty reasonable to me. This
applies to all businesses and professions. Why should you have to apply
for an occupational license in order to open a business? What business
is it of the government? Do you know how many small businesses close
their doors for no other reason than they cannot deal with the hoops the
government makes them jump through just to stay open?
So how do we pay for these services if we don't pay perpetual property taxes? The answer is simple really: FAIR TAX. A low to non-existent federal income tax coupled with a much higher sales tax. Simplify the tax code, terminate the IRS, incentivize small business and investors. The economy grows, so do tax revenues. Cut spending on frivolous nonsense. Keep what is needed, get rid of what isn't. The city
doesn't need another multi-million dollar park. It doesn't need another
street light in front of Calvary Chapel (especially when they have off-duty police directing traffic and making me late for service at the church I have to pass Calvary to get to).
There's an election coming up. Vote accordingly! We fought a revolution to get away from a tyrant king and his taxes. And although it may be extremely good to be the king, the fact remains we don't have one. No matter what our esteemed Commander and Chief thinks of himself.
The idea of a fair tax combined with a federal income tax does not sound good to me. I would only want to move towards a fair tax if the constitution was amended to prevent the fed from taxing my income. Look at the way Canadians are taxed. Plus we already have enough double taxation going on today.
ReplyDeleteI would prefer that we move to a flat tax system first. Close deductions and loop holes. Balance out budget. Then begin to entertain a fair tax system. From my understanding there are no real world examples where a fair tax was implemented to replace a federal income tax. I do know that the flat tax system has begun to be adopted by other countries across the world. Now those countries are mostly small or former communist countries. So, the hurdles we would face to drastically reform our tax code seem daunting.
Many skeptics of Fair/Flat tax systems use class warfare to scare people from taking the time to even try and understand either approach. One of my favorites quotes from Bertrand Russell illustrates a common misnomer about rich vs poor, “Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man.” We can easily look at crime statistics from practically anywhere in the US and see that within poorer communities criminal activity is exponentially higher. In my opinion if you break the law you better pay taxes. Sorry Ryan I agree with Palm Bay cops writing you tickets.
Great input, Dan. As usual. A flat tax is certainly preferable to the current system. I don't mind cops writing tickets if they were also doing actual police work...like responding to emergency calls. It takes them forever to respond to home invasion calls. And I still think cops are douche bags.
DeleteThen stop wasting their time violating traffic laws. Who is the douche now?
DeleteTouche, dan. Touche.
DeleteNice points, Ryan. As always I agree with most of what you have to say. Except: public libraries rule. I love walking in them and smelling the books, taking my kids there to touch different titles, checking things out without having to pay for the ones I bring back right away because I don't like them, and getting books on CD to listen to with my kids so they can use their imagination for a change. In this day, everything for kids is visually stimulated from cell phones to video games to tv and movies to the internet. When we listen to books on CD, my kids are forced to use their mind's eyes to see the story come to life. I could never afford these commodities on my own, so I am grateful to the public library for many reasons.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, another fantastic post. We need another Tea Party in this country. No, not the political association, but the one where citizens gained courage and said no more to their tyrant king, willing to forego their own luxuries to establish fair taxation and representation.
Hey Jaimie. I am certainly not against libraries, I am against the government paying for them. This is one stark example of a government expenditure that could easily be privatized. If there is such a demand for libraries, then the market and/or non-profit organizations would be willing to pick up the slack when the gov cuts their funding. I think public schools should eventually go this way as well. Just look at the caliber of private school education vs public schools.
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