Head for the Hills.....

.....'cause I've got another spur of the moment foul-languaged rant coming on!

Just a few minutes ago, I saw a FB posting from one of my acquaintances (as in not an actual friend, but someone that is on my list for pseudo-business reasons) that read, and I quote:

"Car shopping today. Yay for taxes!"

I had to let myself calm down for several minutes before I replied.  And yes, I know that I didn't have to  reply.  I probably shouldn't have replied.  But I did.  And since I have to be nice to this person, I toned it WAY down.  To just a matter-of-fact question & then statement.  Nothing scathing or flaming, just a simple:

Uhm, "Yay" for taxes? No thanks, we pay more than our share.

I never received a reply back, thank goodness, and if I do, I hope I can ignore it & move on.  But in all honesty, I wasn't upset that I replied.  I still didn't word it like I should have, but I would have been upset had I written what immediately came to my mind when I first saw it.  Even though I technically got sucked-into writing something, I felt it at least wasn't mean.  And I hope that she will take a minute or five to think about why taxes may not be the best thing to be "happy" about.  

This is a younger woman with four beautiful kids and a husband that supports them.  So maybe just the fact that they "got money back" (or more likely, even "made" money with 4 kids to add to their child tax credit) on their tax return was just such great news that she couldn't contain her excitement.  And I'm sorry if I put a damper on her car purchasing adventure today.  But it needed to be said.  People need to be EDUCATED about taxes.  That all that "free" money comes from someone ELSE.  Not from the Government, not from a magic bank account, but from the pockets of hard working people.  From her neighbors, from her friends, from her family, from her own kids' and grandkids' future.

I'm sorry if she does not have the discipline to save money for a car and has to have the government force her to "save" via state and federal income taxes.  It is not the government's responsibility to force someone to save money, be it in the form of "refunded money previously confiscated from a paycheck" or in the form of social "security".

There is nothing, and I mean, NOTHING to be happy about when talking about income taxes.  And don't give me that crap "It's just the price we pay for living in a civilized society".  I'm so frekking sick of hearing people say that.  That "price" is overly-inflated, filled with scams, theft, coercion and lies.  That, and the fact that most of us have to pay hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to have our taxes done every year.  Because the tax laws are so numerous, so cryptic and ever-changing that we mere mortals cannot be expected to understand these laws, nor all the hidden loopholes the special people get when they can afford an accountant that knows of those little secrets.  

While in town last week, I saw a lady dressed in a Statue of Liberty costume (badly made & poorly fit, at that) dancing on the sidewalk (either that or having an epileptic seizure) near one of the companies that provides income tax services.  Ironically, the name of the company is "Liberty Tax Service".  What better example of how construed our thoughts of "Liberty" and "Taxes" have become.  They don't belong in the same sentence, let alone the name of a company.

 

Mama Pea, I'm beginning to understand why you aren't on Facebook.