Up The Creek Without A Paddle
Do you like paying taxes?
by Terry Toole

This is very important, especially if you own anything, or you pay any taxes. I'm sure you will hear many versions of why, or why not to vote not to pay taxes on what you owe. If government entities have anything to do with it, we voters will never have the opportunity to make up our own mind at the ballot box.

This, in itself, makes my ears perk up. When those we hire or vote for to lead our government get to the point where they are afraid to let the people vote on issues like taxation, the next thing we know, they will say they know more what we need than we do, so let them take care of the money. All we should do is pay, what they say.

I went to a meeting not too long ago that the folks were talking about taxes.

The question was if we voters should be given the option to go to the polls and vote "yes" or "no" on the question of abolishing the ad valorem taxes. That's the property taxes you pay to the city and the county. If you have a mobile home, a house, a farm, a car, a truck or anything of value, you pay ad valorem tax on it as long as you own it, every year, forever.

I have lots of information, pro and con, on this legislation, House Resolution 900. Most of the information is from city or county groups who are adamantly opposed to the legislation as it has been introduced.

Even I can see flaws in this legislation as I see in the taxes we are already paying.

Let me be the first to shock many of you. I do believe in taxation with representation. If we are to have cities, counties, states or nations, we must have something to pay for them. I have to be really careful in what I say about taxes. I really don't like them, but the alternative, I like even less. I don't like paying taxes that are spent foolishly. I don't mind paying taxes to fund something that is needed by the majority.

This will come as a shock to some, but nothing that comes from our governments is free. There are lots of folks who get a lot of taxpayers' monies for nothing, but you can be assured, someone has to pay for it, mainly those who pay those taxes.

Our government officials and law makers are very good at thinking up ways to get taxes out of us. They really have no option. Those who pay must furnish the hundreds, thousands, millions and trillions of tax dollars that run these governments.

There is a formula. The more they spend, the more we pay. They never tax enough. That is what is called deficit spending. They borrow enough to make it to the next tax season, and then tax some more.

If you want to know how smart our leaders are, check on how many types of taxes each taxpayer has to pay. There are hundreds of them.

If it gets too bad, or some taxpayers holler too loudly, our leaders offer to tax us in other ways. We are so gullible; we have been told how "fair" sales taxes are. Everyone pays them! Wrong! There are hundreds of exemptions on sales taxes. All of the exemptions are good for the ones who don't have to pay, but those of us who do, makes it one of the highest taxes we pay.

Exemptions to any taxes come about when our politicians "buy" your vote with your own tax money.

If you will pay on everything else, we won't make you pay for services, postage, farm equipment, groceries, medical bills, operations, and the list goes on and on and on.

The question is, if you get the chance, will you vote "yes" or "no" on doing away with ad valorem taxes. That's taxes on your home, your business, your farm, your livestock, or anything else that ad valorem taxes are on. You will be receiving these very soon.

When I get my envelopes from the city, the county, then the state and federal, plus having to pay sales, excise and hundreds of more taxes on most of the stuff I buy, I might vote to abolish motherhood, if it's taxable.

Sometimes, our legislators give us the opportunity to vote to pay more taxes. In most cases, the majority of voters vote to pay more. That proves that more voters don't pay taxes than do. No one is that stupid.

I don't know who is sponsoring the bill giving the voters the option to vote for or against paying any kind of tax, but I'm getting to like those people. Maybe he or she will run for governor, president, mayor, or county commissioner or board of education.

How will I vote? This might not be too hard.