(I originally wrote this in an email, but then I decided, hey, I should just put it up as a blog post.)
I read something a while back from radfem blogger (damned if I can remember who it was; I’ll have to go Googling) talking about how she was a conscientious objector to taxes, and she got so pissed because her dad ended up paying her taxes for her.
:|
Okay first of all, how do you get away w/ not paying taxes? I’m sorry, but the IRS sure as shit knew about it when I forgot to include one of my W-2s in 2004. (Took ‘em almost two years to contact me, but they did eventually!) And that was for a relatively paltry sum.
And, plus… sure, it sucks that some of our tax money goes to fund things like the war… but I really do think it’s like voting. Don’t vote? Don’t complain. I pay taxes and that makes me even more invested in caring about where that money goes. If I could, I’d divide it out and tell the government, “Give all my tax dollars to social services and education, NOT the war.” But, I can’t. So I do what little I can.
Grrrr.
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16 Responses to "Tax-and-spend liberal"
I hate the war as much as anyone, but HOW does anyone know what pitance of THEIR personal tax money goes the war as opposed to other things? So, what, you don’t pay them at all? So, what, they are not supporting the war, bravo…they are also not supporting education, road repairs, federal run aid programs (yep, even those for women!), federal medical research, or GEE, federal funded aftercare, medical support, and programs for not only the troops stuck over there…often young people with not a lot of other career options, but the families they’ve left behind (often young wives and children)…..
….NOT to mention people like that make sure people like us actually, you know, PAY MORE IN TAXES….
grrrr
The price of funding the war effort may be high enough that it’s seen as worthwhile to sacrifice financial support of socially beneficial things as well.
Valeko:
Well, that’s just dandy, but some of us don’t believe in fucking over EVERYONE & EVERYTHING that benefits from that money because Bush is a moron.
And that’s entirely fair, and I agree. I am quite intent on paying my taxes. Was just providing a possible rationale.
That’s not a possible rationale. It would be if the person calculated the proportion of her taxes going to war funding and paid the rest (not that I’m defending such a move). Not paying them, period, suggests a level of prima donnahood that’s completely irrational.
It’s also frigging stupid. You don’t fuck with the Ay Arr Ess. Plus it’s like holding your breath until the System falls down, or trying to levitate the Pentagon. “render unto Caesar” and all that.
The IRS has figured out every stupid mistake I ever made on a tax return, and dammit if I have to pay then so does everyone else!
shussshhh, they’re watching….them, they, the irs…
Tinfoil hats, everyone! Quick, to the bunker!
I am proud to be a tax and spend liberal! My beef is when some don’t pay their share, especially corporations. I love these corporations that do all their “business” stateside but move their corporate HQ to some tax-free island paradise.
Each year when I do my taxes I calculate the monthly cost of being an American. I don’t recall what it was this year, but I always think it’s a bargain. I like to think of it as club membership. Now, granted, the last 7 years I haven’t been thrilled with the leadership, but I’m still a club member!
How’s it a big FU to the man if a) your dad pays your taxes or b) you get forced to pay taxes and interest to the man ’cause you were being ineffectively defiant?
Ever Ms. Iconoclasm, I like to think of this in extremely simple terms:
Taxes are a good thing.
Ronald Reagan just did a round-off back handspring in his grave, but I said it.
We, and by we I mean the American public led by SOMEONE that has a “D” following their name, need to majorly rehabilitate the concept of taxes. Taxes educate our children. Taxes keep our rivers clean. Taxes keep murderers off our streets. Taxes are a good thing.
We need to get to the point where politicians can say, “Tax and spend liberal? Of course I am!”
Yes…I wear rose-colored glasses and my name is Anne Frank. So what?
That was Barb at Lucky White Girl.
I won’t speak for her, but I don’t think her plan was to try to get away with it, but rather she was doing it as a method of civil disobedience that, if she was caught, she would be willing to accept the punishment for.
That was the gist of it as I saw it, at least.
I understood her intent. But I don’t think it’s a very effective or reasonable form of civil disobedience. As Ren and others here have noted, it’s a bit of a baby/bathwater situation (argh, I hate that phrase).
Yeah, I agree Amber. It is sort of a meaningless gesture, but I never really got the impression that she was trying to paint it as a grand one. It always seemed like more of just a personal little thing she was doing.
And, the most she talked about it (I believe… I suppose I should dig through her archives and look it up) was when her father paid the taxes for her behind her back. THAT post was mostly about the feeling of betrayal she felt from her father.
actually, andy mager, a war protestor i knew, did divide it out. he figured out how much went to war spending and deducted that much from his taxes, paid the rest. i can’t remember if he wrote a note as to why he wasn’t paying in full. took ‘em years, but he eventualy went to jail over it. for someone like him, who lived on a land trust (kind of like a commune) and could get by on low-wage work (worked at a print shop), it didn’t matter much. he didn’t want the accoutrements of middle class life, so going to jail, while not fun, wasn’t going to “ruin” his prospects with a prison record. he was (still is i suspect) a tireless activist — but most of us aren’t and can’t be like that. nor do i actually think we should become work-a-holics for the revolution…
Right, and, I’m not willing to go to jail over it.
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