Thoughts on Tax Day

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Ahhh tax day, one of the few days each year that everyone loves to hate. This year, though, the tax man’s dues have been met with a larger amount of resistance than usual. Across the country, protesters have gathered at a number of cities to vent over their disdain for taxes. I’ll be the first to agree that I don’t like paying taxes. In fact I’ve never met anyone who liked paying taxes, only those that, like myself, tolerate the practice because A) Such things are unavoidable and B) Some taxes are perfectly legitimate and necessary.

Now, the rub here is that over the past few years, the number of tax dollars going out the door seems to be ever increasing, even if taxes have not. Both under Republican and Democrat administrations (since we don’t want to make this a political argument if at all possible), Uncle Sam is spending much more than he is taking in. This, as you might expect, isn’t a sustainable practice, so we’re going to end up at one or two outcomes. We will either have to cut our spending (and it will hurt) or we will have to raise taxes (pain here too).

Being an opponent of the bailout myself, I wish everyone luck in protesting something that they don’t agree with. On the other hand, comparing this to the Boston Tea Party isn’t really a fair comparison. The original party had to do with the tax on tea that wasn’t voted on by elected representatives. As you might already suspect, this is the opposite of what happened here, and no matter which side of the political argument you happen to be on, you’re comparing apples and oranges here.

The President isn’t deaf to these concerns either, it appears, as he addressed the nation today:

“We will make it quicker, easier, and less expensive for you to file a return, so that April 15 is not a date that is approached with dread each year.” He went on to point out that “We need to stop giving tax breaks to corporations that stash profits or ship jobs overseas so that we can invest in job creation at home,” Obama said. “And we need to end the tax breaks for the wealthiest 2% of Americans, so that folks like me are paying the same rates that the wealthiest 2% of Americans paid when Bill Clinton was President.” Bold words, to be sure, but unless I don’t have to pay my taxes anymore, I’ll probably continue to dread tax day.