Dwain Northey (Gen X)

I constantly hear people whining about taxes but neglect to acknowledge that those on the higher end of in oncome scale aren’t paying their fare share. They also seem to have zero idea of the services that their taxes pay for, which I will admit isn’t always clear.

I was told by a co-worker that he honestly felt that there should not be taxes, so I made sarcastic assumptions to highlight a folly of his no tax utopia.

I asked.

If his kids went to private or public school.

If he drove to work on public roads.

If his home had a well or used municipal water.

Did he pay for his own fire, or police just in case of an emergency.

Of course, all the responses were that all the services he used were public offering paid for by taxes. He wanted all the services but did not feel that it was his responsibility to pay into a collective for those services, and unfortunately that is how a lot of people think.

I have said for years that annually a report should be sent to every taxpayer breaking down where their taxes go as a percentage, i.e., school, sanitation, police, fire, prison, etc.. If you disagree with the way your taxes are being allotted file a petition, collect signatures, and get the changes on the next ballot, let the public as a whole decide it is what we call the democratic process, and it requires participation.

The current GOP does not feel that they should participate and are trying to shut the system down if they don’t get their hostage demands met. These are the same politicians that voted against the infrastructure bill but are now going to their home districts and taking credit for the projects they voted against. Again, they don’t want to participate but are willing to pat themselves on the back for the process they actively try to tear down.

For our system of government to function we need 2 parties but when 1 of those parties has no ideas other than burn it to the ground nothing gets done for the people. There has to be a common goal, not everyone is going to agree on how to get there, that’s why we have debates to come to some compromise that will move us in a shared direction.

Ok, that’s my soapbox rant for today.