Every year, Americans for Tax Reform calculates the Cost of Government Day. The idea is that taxes take a certain percentage of your income; apply that percentage to the year, and if you consider the first part of your pay in the year as going solely to taxes, then the Cost of Government Day (some call it “Tax Freedom Day”) is the day where you’ve worked off all your taxes and the rest of the year the money goes to you.
This year, that day is July 11. So congratulations–you’re free of taxes! Until Jan. 1 of next year, that is.
That means that, 192 days out of the year, you’re working to make money for the government, not for you and your family. That’s two days more than 2006, and 11 days more than 2000–you know, the year that “fiscally conservative” “small-government” Republicans took control of all three branches of government.
Basically, what all this amounts to is that government takes about 52% of your income in taxes. Think about it: without all of these repressive taxes, one parent could stay home with the children (I’ve talked to couples who basically say that one couple works to pay the taxes while the other works to bring money home). People would have more money for their retirement funds, and not have to be dependent on Social Security. Charities would see their donations doubled. And all of that money in the economy would buy a job for everyone who can work and charity for everyone who can’t. We only need government to give us crutches because they’re the ones who broke our legs in the first place.
Other figures: People now work 45.7 days to pay for state and local government, and 61.8 days to pay for the cost of government regulations.
And people wonder why I’m a Libertarian.
I fully agree with you, however, if you’re trying to convince the left they’re going to naturally retort with “but those taxes go back to you in other services”.
The retort is obvious, but it’s always necessary to address that argument ahead of time when discussing taxes, as it’s always the first objection to come up.
The next objection is based off the one above, although you partially addressed it: “What about the poor, whom pay little to no federal taxes but cannot afford various things that we do and may need safety nets like welfare?”
Of course, the very fact that people are so concerned about the poor in this age shows that I don’t think we’d have much to worry about. It’s also worth noting that “poor” is an arbitrary and relative term, our “poor” eats Big Macs and Chicken Sandwiches as Wendy’s, the “poor” in Africa live off of scrapings. Coincidentally, much of Africa is not economically developed and is rife with corruption. I’m sure people will find some way to blame the west on “exploitation”, though…
It’s true, I’d rather have them sacrificing chickens than passing more unconstitutional legislation that infringes on our rights and that they don’t even *read*.
As for the poor, I blogged about this in a previous entry, but they *do* pay as much in taxes as the rest of us; it’s just hidden. The sales/excise taxes, service fees, and of course the Inflation Tax, among many others, hit the poor far worse than they do everyone else.