Saturday, April 17, 2010

The taxman at the tea party.

For the past six weeks I’ve been working my ass off at a CPA firm, filing other people’s taxes for them. So naturally, I’ve been thinking a lot about the subject of taxes and it’s been interesting to see what various people have made, and what they have to pay.

I really don’t understand the Tea-Party movement. Do they want a military? Roads? The police force, prisons and firemen? Did they go to public school? Are they going to collect social security? Do they benefit from the society they live in? I'm just wondering..

They answer me, “I'm not against all government and I'm not against all taxes. Of course, we need some government and some taxes, but I think we could use less of both of those things.”

Oh, so it's only some places your taxes go that you don't like? Maybe I should join the movement. I have a whole list of places I don't like my tax dollars going. I don't like my tax dollars going to subsidize corn or soy. I don't like my taxes going to build hundred-million dollar aircraft for the military, or any of the wars we are currently engaged in, or any CIA operations. I don't like how much we spend on prisons. And I don't think tax dollars should be used to fight something as natural and benign as cannabis, which if you read into its history, is illegal for completely different reasons then what we are told. And I don't like my tax dollars going to teach abstinence only sex education.

“I think what the tea party movement is struggling against is big government and the road to socialism.” They say.

Well, I think a government should take care of it's population. especially one like ours, where there is no place to opt-out. And I think that capitalism equates a person’s worth to the size of their pocketbook

I suppose it comes down to differences of opinion. And I don’t think Humans will ever overcome their differences. I also wonder if the Tea Partyers are really any different than the Iraq war prostesters that sprouted up during the Bush era. I also wonder how big the movement really is compared to the media attention it receives.

But the differences that are there are huge. The protestors who want peace for everyone, and those that propagate hate and hording. So they don’t want to lend out a helping hand. Those who claim to be christians and follow in the footsteps of he who said “if he is naked, clothe him; hungry, give him bread; tired, a bed; thirsty, your cup.” I paraphase. But I, not claiming to be christian, turn the other cheek, and do unto others as I would have done to me because I believe in being a decent human being.

I’m half-convinced that the Tea Partyers are just really pissed off that they have a black Democratic president. They are so mad that they lost and the person who won is black. They are so mad, they are going to stupid lengths to express their anger. For example, in my state of Arizona, governor Jan Brewer is spending state resources to file a lawsuit against the federal government over the health care bill, (along with 13 other states, who are not going to win, and are just doing it for the political points) while they are having to slash the state budget everywhere else, cutting education, health and social services. When this country is filled with the super-rich living in cities surrounded by walls, and massive slums are filled with illiterate, ignorant, hungry and beaten down people and they begin to riot, we will have none but ourselves to blame.

4 comments:

  1. You think the government should take care of its population?? You don't strike me as someone that wants some government worker to take care of you. I think responsible adults should take care of themselves. ( key word is responsible ). If you want more corruption vote for bigger government. If you want more inefficient bureaucracies vote for bigger government. By the way I heard your share of our national debt is $ 46,000. Responsible adults take care of themselves and pay their taxes too. I could care less about the color of President Obama skin. But as our first affirmative action president his policies are crazy big spending and heading in the same direction as Greece.

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  2. Hi Leah, Linda R from Oregon, just checking in to
    see how every thing is going for you guys in AZ.
    I bet it is starting to get hot now too.
    I enjoy reading your blog, wish we were closer so
    we could talk more.
    Thursday I finish 6 months of chemo and then I have a month off, and more tests to see what is coming next.
    I started working when I was eighteen, lost my job last Aug because they shut the plant down, and 2 months later had stage 4 cancer, I thing
    what pisses me off, is I have work for 40 years
    and all of a sudden no income, and it doesn't
    sound much like I can get Disability either. If
    I am unable to go back to work, then by the time
    I am 66 and can draw my SS, it will probably drop
    down to "0".
    Other than that things are great here, I have 4
    puppies and it is so cool to be able to spend so
    much time with them, we just bought a 28' travel
    trailer so we are going fishing on the Snake River, leaving Thursday right after the chemo is
    over. I hope to not have to come home for 3/4 weeks.
    Take Care
    Linda

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  3. I find it crazy when people say that the Tea Party is just people that are racist. I have yet to meet a Tea Party supporter who has qualms with Obama based on skin color. I am sure there are some, but you can't judge a group, especially a large one based on it's outliers.
    At any rate, the original Tea Party movement was very much an anti-federal government movement. We as a country are facing real finical issues. Part of it can be solved by raising taxes, but the fact of the matter is that we can not tax our way out of our spending hole. The other part is that we can cut spending. Much like you and your husband did. When you couldn't raise income you cut expenditures. You are not racist for doing so. Why would a Tea Party member be for suggesting we do the same thing collectively?
    Moreover, the Tea Party never asked for no roads, military, police, firemen etc. They are suggesting that we cut spending on military, something that it sounds like you agree with. They are suggesting that instead of the Feds, handing money out to states for them to spend on police and firemen, and schools etc that they money goes straight to the States because they can more efficiently handle the money as it is one step closer to the people.
    Many of the Tea Party people are upset with the way things have been handled by Obama. He came in to office preaching Hope and Change saying that he was different. Although I never believed him I did give him the benefit of the doubt. He broke almost every promise that he made. He passed Obamacare in a very crooked way that he should be ashamed of.
    As far as pot goes, the original Tea Party, pre. Sarah Palin and others was full of people that supported peoples right to consume what ever they want too. I would not consider my self aligned with what the Tea Party has become. It actually kind of annoys me to be honest, but they are much more polite to their host cities than the Occupy movement, they are peaceful, and they are not near as hateful towards Bush as the war protests were (really any anit-Bush person). So with that said I can't help but get frustrated when people paint the Tea Party people as racists, but just covering that up with issues on taxes.

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