Taxes

Ever see the movie Dazed and Confused?  It's a comedy about high-schoolers at the end of the school year in 1976, which was the bicentennial of American independence.  My favorite line was the high school teacher saying, "Let's not forget what we're celebrating here--a bunch of white male slaveowners didn't want to pay their taxes!" It's a funny line because it's partly true...

In 1984 Walter Mondale ran for U.S. president, promised to raise taxes, and lost badly.  That doesn't mean he was wrong to do so.  I think that he did the right thing in the wrong way:  he shouldn't have waited till the convention to make the promise, and he should have been more specific about who'd pay more.

Jesus Christ said about taxes, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's," and I guess that's as good a justification for taxes as any.  The government prints the money, so it gets to charge user fees for the people who use it, like tolls to pay for highways.  Americans have convinced themselves that they're overtaxed, but they actually pay lower taxes than in places like Europe.  

Taxing and spending is what government does!  I think that they should create a carbon tax--global warming is for real--and a tax on speculation and currency exchange.