Taxes

I believe in paying taxes. Really, I do. Not out of some cosmic-moral-ethical reason, and not because I like the pain of giving up money. Instead, it's because I see them as necessary in order for our society to run.

I see taxes serving several purposes:

• Paying for public services, such as schools, police, fire-fighters, road construction, community centers, and so on.

• Paying administrative costs - this is a pretty weak area, I believe, and one which should be minimized.

• I am somewhat ambivalent on this issue, but I support the taxation of gasoline and cigarettes. However, the whole "user fee" aspect of the gasoline tax bothers me.

• Helping society help those who can't easily help themselves. I believe in welfare, and I believe in a certain degree of redistribution of wealth.

This short list is not exhaustive.

I don't support the use of taxes for all things, and I don't always agree to the uses that my tax dollars are being put, such as the murder of men, women and children in Serbia by 1) our military and 2) by the KLA which we are essentially supporting (April 17, 1999).

I had to pay a shit-load in taxes this year - it wasn't pretty. Damn shame that taxes were not deducted from my fellowship from the start ...

Americans whine about taxation more than people in any other "industrialized" (or even "post-industrial") nation, and to think, we pay the least in taxes (due to poor adminstration and lack of proper programs, I'd also say that we get the least for our taxes, but that's another topic). A friend/colleague from Canada makes the same amount of money I do, and had to pay both U.S. and Canadian income taxes - now that's someone who has a bit more reason to complain.