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Point of View ::
Taxes are always an interesting topic for discussion and there is
always someone anxious to place a little higher tax on someone else to
fund their own pet projects. Yet as “tax day” arrives each year, I
like to step back and remember the overall weight of taxes many of our
citizens face. The best way to do that is through the eyes of an
average working woman named Janet.
When Janet rises early in the morning and makes her way to the
bathroom she knows that the moment she turns on the light, taxes are
being levied on the electricity she is using. She then turns on the
water to cleanse the sleep from her eyes and is taxed on that water
when it comes in through the faucet and again when it goes down the
drain as sewage. Janet begins getting her children ready for school
and packs their lunches with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, the
material for which was taxed at the grocery store.
The family walks to Janet’s car parked in the driveway, and while
cleaning the leaves from the windshield, she notices the city decal
for which she has been taxed just to park in her city. She notes that
she was also taxed not only on the purchase of the car but for the
license plate which gives her the privilege to drive her car. After
dropping her children off at school, Janet realizes that her gas tank
is running low so she pulls into the local gas station. While she
pumps her gas she notices the little sign on the gas pump that reminds
her that she is not only being taxed locally on this fuel, but must
also pay the state and federal gas tax.
Upon arriving at work, Janet begins her daily tasks. Later that day
around lunchtime she drops her car off for routine maintenance at her
mechanic’s shop. She then joins her coworkers for a quick lunch at the
local deli on the corner where she pays tax on her meal. At the end of
the day a coworker drops her off so she can pick up her car, where she
pays tax on the parts and labor. As she drives home, she calls her
daughter to see if she has arrived safely from school, and remembers
she is now paying tax on the airwaves for the privilege of using her
cell phone.
After stopping at her mailbox, Janet pulls into the driveway to park
the car. As she looks at her home, she notices that the house needs a
fresh coat of paint, the yard desperately needs mowing and how it
would be really nice to have some landscaping done to spruce up the
place. She then sighs and makes note that the list of improvements
could be endless, but there’s just not enough money to do it now.
As she gets out of her car, she can’t help but notice the boat in the
backyard that she is paying personal property tax on, the boat her
husband begged her to let him purchase that he hasn’t used in three
years. She slowly makes her way to the front door and is greeted by
her loving family. Janet takes a seat at the kitchen table to open the
mail only to find the real estate tax assessment, credit card offers
and finally her pay check. Ah, she got paid today but wait, 35% – 40%
of her paycheck is gone. The federal income tax, FICA and state income
tax have reduced her paycheck to what seems like almost nothing, and
is certainly not enough. “What in the world does FICA stand for
anyway?” Janet wonders.
At a loss, Janet quietly retreats to the sundeck at the rear of the
house to simply relax without being taxed on one more thing in her
life. As her daughter’s cute little puppy rounds the corner and jumps
into her lap, she can’t help but notice dangling from his fury little
neck is the dog tag that she had to pay a tax for so her daughter
could merely own a pet. So if Janet doesn’t seem too receptive when
somebody wants to raise one of her existing taxes or add another one
as a collection so they can “help” her in some way she will probably
never see, you can at least begin to understand why she might say “no
thanks.”
This year, “Tax Freedom” Day, the day when Americans’ combined
earnings for the year equal their collective tax burden, falls on
April 17. This is the day Americans stop working to pay taxes and
begin working for themselves. So the next time someone says, “Well, I
guess we can just raise taxes to pay for that,” at least take a moment
to think about Janet before you jump on the bandwagon.
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