Taxes.

"How can we live in freedom and maintain that we are entitled to *anything* that we can't get without the labor of others? Remember, if we are entitled to the labor of others, that makes slaves of those others." Marilyn vos Savant, Parade Magazine, 12/31/95 - Marilyn vos Savant is listed in "The Guiness Book of World Records" Hall of Fame for the "Highest IQ".

How is it that someone ends up paying around 30% of their income to taxes? I have been thinking about it a lot lately. I don't believe that I have ever made more than about $30,000 a year, and that was when I had a really good job for me. Yet, I pay about 30% of my income to various taxes. I can tell you honestly that if I were able to keep that money rather than it going toward taxes, I would have virtually no debt. I would also have a savings account that I could rely on when emergencies pop up, as well as probably enough to keep me going in my retirement years by the time that I retire.
I can understand paying some income taxes. If it were up to me, we would only have income taxes to pay for our military. I can even understand paying some income taxes towards a modest stipend for our Congress and Representatives. I do not believe that they should have the virtually limitless resources that they currently have. Why should they and the President as well be able to go anywhere anytime with no thought to saving the taxpayers some money. They are not royalty, though they do at times present themselves this way. I am not a serf that I should be expected to work hard all my life and they get to enjoy the riches that we have made for them. I don't see why they need to take private jets everywhere. I think that at the very least, they could fly on regular flights with everyone else. If they want to take family members along on these trips, then they should pay for those out of their own pockets. It shouldn't be on the taxpayers dime.
I have been reading a lot about taxes lately. I think that if we, as U.S. citizens, got together and made our wishes known, we could probably boost the economy by proposing a flat tax. A flat tax would help those people like me who don't have a lot of money to spare. It would make it so that the tax code isn't so difficult to understand, and less able for those with a lot of money to be able to manipulate it. I, for one, would be ecstatic with a flat tax. I would be able to save money both for retirement and those odd emergencies. I would also be able to spend money on retail items that I now cannot afford. Retail, and in turn, the economy would jump right back into a more normal level. This would also help the unemployment problem, because those companies that are slow to hire for fear they will not be able to stay in the black would be able to go back to hiring employees as needed.