My Two Cents on Tax Day (It's All I Can Afford Now)

No, I'm not at a "tea party."

Yet.

But if you are there, you have my permission to notch your voice up another decibel or two.

Since the missus and I are considered "rich" by the tax code, our generous contributions to a child's college education are almost totally discounted this year. (Actually we earned about $300 over the dividing line.)

Bottom line: $1,500 due.

How can you go from an $800 refund to owing $1,500 with very little added income? Our youngest no longer qualified for that special child tax credit. (Even though he eats more than ever, and we're now paying his car payment and insurance.)

The tax code doesn't make sense. True, it hasn't made sense in my lifetime, but it's getting crazier. We need a system that doesn't penalize us when we decide to be a bit more productive. "Progressive" tax rates? Unfairness is what it is, especially when over 40 percent of working Americans now file a tax return in order to receive more money back than they paid in through the Earned Income Tax Credit. We are getting very close to the point where 50 percent of Americans will not owe income taxes at all.

That's a tipping point where, electorally speaking, we cross the Rubicon. A majority of voters have no incentive to push for tax reform, and have every incentive to vote for the politician who promises to soak the rich so that the masses can have more, more, more, courtesy of our redistributionist Uncle Sam.

As broken as the system is today, I must also add that our taxes are not that high.

Yet. It is coming. It is coming fast and it is coming hard. A nation cannot spend at the rate we are spending, and obligate itself at the rate of our current obligations, and not have the cows come home to roost. (Yes, I said cows. They are a lot heavier than chickens, for those of you who are agriculturally challenged.) We are going to see tax rates go up, and we are going to see "hidden" tax rates, also known as price inflation, on items such as energy, education, medicine, food, that will dwarf taxation.

There is little we can do to prevent it from happening except demand that our politicians CEASE SPENDING on all but the most basic, essential public services now. (Yes, I said "demand.")

Those who will not comply should be removed from office, peacefully, through the ballot box.

That means we have to have people who will vow to stop the spending trains at the federal, state and local levels. New political blood.

That means we need to develop a new generation of leaders who understand the principles upon which this country was founded. The small "r" principles of a Republic, with its checks and balances and guarantees of individual liberties, among them the right to life, liberty, private property, and the pursuit of happiness.

I am not optimistic. There are many things which must happen for us to restore our government to a semblance of sanity. But it is worth the attempt.

The path we are on leads to places we do not wish to go; the alternatives are bleak.

I still believe that a majority of Americans believe in the Constitution, although they may not understand it. The fundamental document that should guide all of our lawmaking and governmental activity remains intact. It is up to We, the People, to insist that it be followed.