With April comes everyone’s favorite time to bash the government: tax day. So of course, on that day, people gathered to protest taxation. Now of course people have the right to protest, and I’m really glad they do. I think it’s great that protesting is still done in person instead of hidden behind usernames on web sites. It’s an old-school public forum.
But the timing of these protests practically defeats the point. By April 15, when you’re out protesting taxes, you should have already mailed in that tax form. If not, you’re breaking the law.
Yes, we can (and should) debate about the proper use of our tax dollars. But just complaining that taxes are high? No.
First, we have taxation with representation. That separates the issue from any patriotic kinship with the founders anyone tries to create. Voting rights and representation in government is what America’s built upon. But you can’t build anything without money.
I think there is a lot of wasteful spending. I think that the fact that the country is massively in debt is shameful. But I’m not going to protest taxes because I’m displeased with how some of that money is used.
I’d hate to see an America without taxes. We wouldn’t have fire or police departments, the interstate system, air traffic control, a military, public schools, sewer systems, basically any infrastructure that a country needs.
You have the right to vote for the representation you want. You have the right to assemble and discuss politics. You have the right to protest when the representatives don’t vote your way. But you do not have the right to get what you want.
I understand, greed and gung-ho are the basis of capitalism. We’re able to say what we want, think what we want, buy what we want. We expect to always get what we want from the government as well. We want all of the protections and none of the taxes.
How do you expect the government to provide superpower status without funds?
I, for one, am willing to pay a portion of my meager income to live in a place where I’m safe. None of us wake up every morning to check the latest bomb damage or ask around town and see which political protesters were taken in the dead of night, never to be heard from again.
We worry about another terrorist attack, but we don’t suffer real fear of our country being overtaken by a foreign force. We complain about the state of the nation, but we don’t believe the nation will actually fall apart.
America is nowhere near from weak. Even with its massive debt, America is a wealthy country.
We get a lot for our tax dollars. While we should monitor the use of taxes and be aware of spending, complaining about taxes themselves just makes us look like whiny little kids.
Security costs money. Government costs money. Sustaining a country that protects its people’s liberties costs money.
We pay our taxes and we vote, and we hope our representatives use the money responsibly. But ultimately, we do not make the final decision. We have to vote for people we are willing to put faith in.
We have our say, and we should value that, instead of complaining about every piece of policy we disagree with. Chances are, if a policy passes in Congress, a lot of voters somewhere are happy about it, and a lot are unhappy. Government cannot please everyone all the time. But we shouldn’t get riled up every time we’re the ones left unhappy.
My advice? Pay your taxes, and save the protesting for when something really matters, not just when things don’t go your way.
