Taxes

So, I'm going to say something shocking.

And bear in mind that you don't have to agree with me on this.  But I want to say it.

Brace yourselves.

I don't mind paying my taxes.

*moment of silence to let it sink in*

I listen to people complaining about taxes.  And let's face it, they aren't fun to pay.  But I'm not one of those people who thinks that I don't get anything by paying them.

First,  When I turn on the spigot, clean, drinkable water comes out.  When I walk outside, the air is clean.  Armed gangs of thugs do not terrorize my city.  Our country is not constantly being invaded by foreign armies.  The streetlights work, the roads are paved.  When I flush, all that stuff goes somewhere.  I don't know where it goes.  I just know that it doesn't stay here.  Once a week, people come and pick up the garbage and take it somewhere else.  Again, I don't really know where, I just know it doesn't stay here.  I'm fairly certain, that if I called 911, the police department and the fire department and the rescue squad would come out to my house and help me.  We have, despite it's flaws, the finest court system in the world.  I went to public schools, including a state college.  Taxes paid for, or help pay for, all those things.

Taxes pay teachers, policemen and the men and women who serve us all in the armed forces.  They pay for the roads, the schools, some of the hospitals and all of the aircraft carriers. 

So when I hear people complain about taxes as if they get no benefit, it annoys me.

Second, it's my privilege to be a citizen of this country.  It is my great and profound privilege.  The flip side of privilege is responsibility.  I think it is my privilege as well as my responsibility to pay taxes to support our government.

Third, and maybe most controversially, I am not angry that a portion of the taxes that I pay may go to help those who are less fortunate than I am.  I know that there are sorry, stomp-down-lazy people out there who are drawing checks - I am, after all, from West Virginia.

But I also know that I have been blessed in almost every way.  And I think that those who are blessed should help those who are maybe not-so-blessed.  I think we should take care of the less fortunate because I am a Christian, because I am a pragmatist and because I think that that is what great civilizations do.  We should take care of them because it's right, even if it's not easy.  If my taxes help one truly needy child or one truly needy elderly person, then that's all that matters to me.
Image:  Colorful Swirls by Glimpses of Joy.