Taxes - The Beast of All Burden

“The power to tax is the power to destroy.” 

- John Marshall

That might be a little too extreme. However, there is a moment in the history of any nation - however young or old the government may be - when taxes become tools for tyranny that exacts the worst punishment according to Jeff Hayes when he said,

“Capital punishment: The income tax.” – Jeff Hayes

Pun may also have been intended because capital for businesses could also suffer from the punishment of excessive taxation.

Again, a little too excessive. If we are to have a government we need to fund it. If we expect services and protection then we ought to be willing to pay for it. There lies the one and only justification for the existence of taxes - but lawful ones they should and ought to be.

Now, this takes us to the question of when does taxation become a burden. When does it become the beast when its annual visitation can make beasts of people - making them lie, cheat or concoct stories of fiction to avoid paying what they believe is more than their fair share of contribution to their government? Though undeniably there is cheating just for the sake of it, with an uncontrollable desire just to be greedy, the general citizenry abide by the virtue of fairness.

There is a time, and it could be for many nations, when all the taxes that can be formulated, exacted on people and collected for the proper functioning of governments have already been written in the laws. Any new taxes since then are either frivolous or no longer justifiable. When do these new tax laws that ask for more money from the people become a destructive beast? When is the burden much too heavy for the average taxpayer to sustain?

"Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery."     - Calvin Coolidge

That was spoken by a U.S. president almost a century ago but since then more taxes continued to be written into the laws, yet today the government is still clearly unable to live within its means. And so do almost all governments worldwide.

The California legislature recently had a proposal alliteratively expressed, though not too cleverly: a tax on texting. These lawmakers are running out of ideas on ways to feed the beast. Airport tax, hotel tax, road tax, fuel tax, carbon etc. have all been taken. So, how about a tax on text? And the gall to actually do it retroactively for five years! The tax is to help the underprivileged but since the tax will apply to everyone then the people least likely to afford it suffer the most.

This tax is symptomatic of ideas gone berserk. Progressive ideologies. and liberal agenda have this one weapon aimed at everything and anything. Anything that moves, tax it. If it doesn't move, tax it anyway. Remember the death tax?

Sen. Barry Goldwater said, "The income tax created more criminals than any single act of government."

So someone said this, "I'm seeking an income tax refund high enough to just barely keep me out of prison."

Well. Enough said but there is more to think about.

Legalizing marijuana use is a way for state governments to legitimately collect taxes on an otherwise underground economy. However, we do not know the extent of the effects of rampant marijuana use on society in general and the overall health and safety its young citizens citizens in particular that some experts believe could follow, which could ultimately cause governments to spend money later on such issues as mental illness, increased accidents on the road, poor performance in schools and productivity loss at work, and all other effects not quite well understood or anticipated for now from a freer use of the drug. Should new taxes be required to cover those in the future?

State and other government sponsored lotteries that seem to be a method of income distribution or a voluntary form of taxation are on the surface an innocuous diversion that affect people least likely to afford that kind of entertainment. These lotteries are supposed to help educational programs for the poor and other services to the needy. Unfortunately, it is probably true that the very same people lotteries target to help are the same ones spending an inordinate amount of their income on lottery tickets.  It is just a thought. And again, it comes down to collecting money from people that is a veiled attempt at taxation.

Taxes on fossil fuels to discourage use of the product to reduce carbon emissions are legislative methods to change behavior. And speaking of behavior, Elon Musk (of Tesla and SpaceX fame) says below:

He was on to something when he declared "elementary stuff"  from the quote above; either that or, he was  on something (remember the famous podcast while he inhaled something profusely?)

Carbon is the second most abundant element in nature, the entire universe even, that had served a purpose and continues to do so in more ways than it is disruptive. Why is money not spent on making more use of it? It's just a question.

Carbon hardens iron into steel. It is what makes possible for raw rubber to become tires; hence all tires are the hue of carbon black. Without carbon we will not have cars, buses and airplanes can't land without tires. Carbon fiber is the lightest, yet the strongest pound per pound modern material for all kinds of applications from helmets to bikes to car and airplane bodies. Carbon is the lifeblood of plants. It is part of all our energy needs - from carbohydrates in food to being the component element that forms the structure that holds hydrogen atoms to make hydrocarbon fuels. Is there not enough money to tame carbon into a useful material, rather than fight it? It is a fundamental element.  It will be here forever. Long after we are all gone. Why not find more uses for it? Instead we spend all kinds of money as if we can actually rule it out of existence. Is everyone blinded from thinking outside the carbon shroud?

Soon we will run out of stuff to tax. Oh, no!

It is something to ponder, indeed!