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Seems like most Americans now feel that only half of that old adage is true. Death is certain. But they think we can get along without taxes. It’s natural that no one wants to pay any tax. It would be so nice to have government provide for all our needs without having to pay taxes. But it just won’t work that way. Someone has to pay the bill. Constitutional purists will say the income tax
is illegal, that the only permissible tax on the American people is the
ad valorem tax, added to the value of a product.
Indeed, earlier dictionaries defined income as profit.
Later the definition came to be wages.
Regardless, we have had income taxes for a while and they
aren’t going away as much as some would like them to. In Washington, the crusade is on to lower taxes.
The last tax cut put some $600 in the average pocket with the
only effect being an increased deficit.
More reductions seem to be on the way.
Obviously, the deficit will increase.
More immediately will be the cut in funding that flows for
programs from Washington down to the states.
When this cash stream is cut at capitols around the country,
state governments cut back on funds coming down to cities and counties.
That leaves local government to trim back on the services
citizens demand—schools, sanitation, infrastructure, improvements.
Either they do that, or they increase the taxes they control with
additional sales taxes and property taxes, to name a couple of avenues. In the last gubernatorial campaign in Tennessee,
it was a classic abuse of campaign rhetoric.
GOP candidate Van Hilleary, in the primary and the general
election, waved the banner of No Income Tax so vigorously that it became
a contest as to which candidate hated the income tax most.
Democratic candidate Phil Bredesen had to “hate income taxes”
too. In the Republican
primary, Jim Henry declared his opposition to any income tax, but
suggested the question of taxes and expenditures be put in the hands of
the people. His idea was to go to the people and let them make the
decision. The Hilleary camp won the primary by putting on
TV and through a mailout of a fake document supposedly showing Jim
Henry’s signature on a pro income tax paper.
Actually, it was his signature on a paper helping then Gov. Ned
McWherter study school funding. It
had nothing to do with proposing an income tax.
The chicanery won the primary, but cost Van Hilleary the general
election against Democrat Bredesen. This put Gov. Bredesen in the position of having
to balance a shaky budget on the proverbial shoestring. As the war with Iraq loomed, tax cuts were passed and
Washington began drying up state funding, Tennessee’s governor joined
executives across the country in performing the unpleasant task of
cutting services. Unlike the federal government, states must
operate within the boundaries of their income.
Washington doesn’t break a dollar bill’s sweat to go a few
trillion dollars in debt. One
of our senators once said, a billion here and a billion there pretty
soon amounts to big money. Now
it’s a trillion here and a trillion there. The people of Tennessee had faith in those
elected to the state’s legislative and executive branches.
Those in office should have the same respect for the people.
Put the situation on the table with the options.
Cut services. More
sales tax. More property tax. Income
tax. Let the people decide.
Whether we like it or not, taxes are just as certain as death. |
