If the white house doesn't care about the laws... if the FBI wiretaps regularly without a court order... if the CIA and NSA spy on american citizens, violating their laws... why should anyone else care either? Doesn't that give the tax collecter the image of a criminal? I still pay my taxes, dutifully, and without any knowledge of who gets the money, but I feel like a schmuck because I've met a dozen people in the last year who say they just plain don't file, and the IRS never bothers them. I think if Snowcrash turns out... Scientologists own battleships, Central Intelligence Corporation, and USG Inc... I might keep paying taxes just for kicks. An interesting theme in taxes -- deductions imply it's the government's right to decide what to take and what we can keep. It is not; what it is is doubtless incalculable, but, at the least, rationality should play a part. Taxes also make the case that few resources exist for domestic and cultural necessities like good education, by entitling 'special classes' to higher standards. Though the blind, as a class, deserve a specialized, high standard education, plenty more could get one, too, with even a fraction of the money they spend on supercomputers and guns. Just my two bits... wait, it's almost 15 April (tax day), make that one bit. -hedges-
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Apr 13 2001 - 13:07:22 PDT