DISCLAIMER: This is not a call to action, nor should my opinions influence your financial and legal decision making. I do not advocate or condone illegal activities. Anyone claiming to be influenced by my writing or ideas should take personal accountability for their own behavior.
Hopefully that disclaimer constitutes enough to function as a Cover-Your-Ass policy. Now that we’ve got that out of the way…
WHY THE HELL ARE WE STILL PAYING TAXES?!
Wesley Snipes and Al Capone showed the public what happens when Big Daddy Government doesn’t get its sweet slice of the pie. Tax evasion can land you in a cage while the IRS garnishes your wages until they get all their money and then some. Don’t get me wrong, there is a purpose for basic local and federal taxes. I recognize the need for some of the Socialist programs we have in place including the Fire Department, Police Department, Schools, Infrastructure, Healthcare, Welfare, and national defense. All of these programs serve a purpose to maintain a civilized society and I have no issue with a (small) percentage of my hard-earned dollars going toward these societal functions.
My issue with taxation is targeted at Big Daddy Government and California. The federal government hired 87,000 IRS Agents to enforce collections on the middle class in the midst of a failing economy. If you don’t believe that, look into the bipartisan support of tax breaks for multi-billion dollar companies that lobby and support the very same politicians that voted to maintain favorable tax exemptions. If you wanted to throw on a tinfoil hat, you might look at this political behavior as a way to stifle the middle class and separate society into two groups: paycheck-to-paycheck poverty and top-down ruling from the wealthy elite.
If you didn’t pay attention during your Government & Economics or Civics class in high school, you might have missed out on a critical detail about our government and how it operates. Despite hearing “democracy” echoed by political leaders and news pundits alike, we are not a democracy. A democracy is determined by “majority rules” voting, leaving minority groups vulnerable to discriminatory laws and policies. If you think living in a pure democracy is a good idea, think about the amount of easily-influenced dumb people walking around. If you disagree, go strike up 10 conversations with complete strangers and seek to disprove me. For our nation’s sake, I would love to be wrong. Our government functions as a democratic republic. The purpose of this system is for our voting population to elect representatives that vote on our behalf. Keep in mind, that is the purpose not the outcome. Rather than vote on behalf of their constituents (the people), our representatives are guilty of voting in favor of special interest groups, large corporations, anyone, and anything that secures or maintains their positions in power.
What does all of this have to do with paying taxes? Our tax dollars pay for each elected official’s salary. They live on our dime and determine how to spend our tax dollars on different policies, measures, and programs. They vote to send billions of our tax dollars to foreign countries to fight proxy wars, purchase international influence, and bail out “too big to fail” corporations. We don’t get a say on where any of that money goes and we’re the ones that pay for it. On the record, our Congress has approved sending $113,000,000,000 to Ukraine with roughly 60% of that money allocated toward defense. “Defense” translates to military hardware, weapons, munitions, tanks, and other war goods to utilize against our government’s adversary, Russia. Generally speaking, Russians have no beef with Americans and Americans have no hard feelings with Russians. The tension comes from two governments that are seeking global political advancement and influence over territories.
Every year, our government allocates an annual Foreign Aid Budget to send other countries tens of billions of dollars collected from the public. Our tax dollars have propped up Ukraine, Israel, Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Nigeria, Colombia, Ethiopia, and others to secure our military positions in the Middle East and maintain proximity to coveted resources like oil. The United States Defense Department is receiving somewhere in the neighborhood of $800,000,000,000 for the 2023 fiscal year. Without a doubt we need a strong military to maintain a power position in the global economy and ensure domestic safety. On the flipside, our military invaded Iraq on the false premise of discovering and securing weapons of mass destruction. The result: we never found weapons of mass destruction, more than 1,000,000 innocent civilians were killed, and we gained access to oil fields.
Under the Biden Administration, our military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan was more than disastrous… It was treasonous. Our government left behind American citizens, Afghan allies that assisted US military efforts, billions of dollars in gear and weapons, and more than they’d like to admit to the American public. The “official” story claimed the withdrawal was a success. Thanks to courageous acts by people like Tim Kennedy, heroes were able to extract some of the remaining Americans, allies, and refugees that had been left for dead in the hands of the Taliban. In addition to the Biden Administration’s Afghanistan blunders, the lack of immigration enforcement along the US/Mexico border has enabled millions of people to illegally enter the country. Our immigration courts are understaffed and unequipped to deal with the burden of processing millions of undocumented migrants. Border towns have surged with violence and the flow of fentanyl onto our nation’s streets has led to the most significant overdose epidemic ever experienced in our short history.
Our nation’s railway infrastructure is failing catastrophically, leading to train derailments like that in East Palestine, Ohio. It is only February 2023 and we have already experienced 12 major train derailments. These train derailments have resulted in toxic chemical spills that have poisoned water supplies and had devastating consequences on environmental pollution. Railway workers were cautioning lawmakers and politicians to repair and replace this kind of infrastructure for years, yet they received no attention until disaster struck. How is it that we have hundreds of billions to shell out to other countries and fight a proxy war with Russia, but we don’t have the money to invest in our infrastructure and underserved communities? Why the hell are there third-world conditions in cities like Chicago, San Francisco, and Seattle, and we’re supposed to be a first-world nation? There are still lead pipes transferring drinking water to ghettos in the Northeastern United States. Where do our tax dollars go to support our citizens? We should not assist other nations at this magnitude until every man, woman, and child within our country is above the poverty line with equitable access to clean drinking water, healthy food, healthcare, education, and employment opportunities. That sounds a little harsh, but pause and take a moment to see the connection between foreign/domestic aid and what to do when a plane loses cabin pressure. If a plane loses pressure in its cabin, oxygen masks drop down in front of each seat. You’re instructed to put your mask on first before attempting to assist other passengers. Why? Because you can’t adequately help someone else if you’re unconscious due to hypoxia (lack of oxygen). As a nation, we must deploy resources on ourselves before we look to help others.
There are countless examples of our tax dollars being wasted on failed government programs, misuse and embezzlement by politicians, and frivolous spending at the American people’s expense. Our tax code is intentionally vague to prevent commoners from comprehending how to retain more money and take advantage of loopholes. Our tax system is either broken and needs total reform, or it is working exactly as it is intended. Either way, it is extracting an unfathomable amount of money from the people to the tune of trillions of dollars. I’m not saying the entire tax-paying population in the United States should withhold their tax dollars from collection until our elected officials represent their constituents, but it seems like a great method to enact a radical power shift. If 81,000,000 people allegedly voted for Biden as the most popular president in US history, is it too crazy to think that 80,000,000 Americans could unite against unrepresented taxation?
Our government banks on the threat of imprisonment and financially crippling consequences to keep its people in line. Big Daddy Government has been playing a dirty game, convincing the public that governing authority has all the power and our politicians carry the same attitude. The people have forgotten that just as we give power to our government, we can also withdraw it. Our great nation may have many flaws, but it was founded on the ideas of freedom, liberty, and telling a tyrannical government to go fuck themselves when they didn’t represent the interests of the people. The Arrogant American was born on the day colonists decided to stop paying into taxation without adequate representation. It’s not even 300 years later and we’ve found ourselves in a similar position.
Read my mind. 