PAYING TAXES

I spent most of the day going through the file cabinet, and methodically entering the facts and figures on a computer tax program.  By the late afternoon, our taxes were done, and all of the 2012 files were relegated to a box in the garage.  When we were business owners, the idea of preparing our own tax return was out of the question due to the complexity of the tax code.   This ritual of either doing the annual tax return ourselves, or paying someone to do it for us, plays out for millions of Americans in the early months of each year. 

I doubt if there are very many people who happily write a check in the form of an income tax payment to the federal government.  Even with the realization that a national defense, and other constitutional mandated expenditures require the people to pay some form of tax, making a payment to the federal government probably isn't  a high priority for most folks in today's world. 

Taking this April 15th ritual a step further, my thoughts about monetarily supporting my country have become, for lack of a better word - cynical.  Our federal bureaucracy has gotten so big, and spending is so out of control, I no longer feel like my tax dollars are being spent in a responsible way.  There are too many specifics to list here, but all one has to do is either read the newspaper, or listen to the TV news, and you will find daily examples of wasteful, and ridiculous government spending.  Yet, many of our nation's leaders will not acknowledge that Washington D.C. has a spending problem, and even more amazingly, those same dunderheads think that the answer to the ever growing national debt & deficit, is to actually increase government spending.   

I could go on for pages, about what I think is wrong with our governments financial priorities, but it's truly an exercise in futility.  An individual has virtually no voice in the establishment of government policy.  As a large group however, there is still some meaning to "We the people", and at some point, I have to believe that the folks will wake up, and their collective voice will be heard.  If our tax dollars continue to be spent in so many ridiculous ways, at some point down the road, we'll all be paying the price.