102 Things NOT to do if you're against taxes

[WillParkinson]

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/11/07/102-things-not-to-do/

So, you’re a Republican that hates taxes? Well, since you do not like taxes or government, please kindly do the following.

1. Do not use Medicare.
2. Do not use Social Security
3. Do not become a member of the US military, who are paid with tax dollars.
4. Do not ask the National Guard to help you after a disaster.
5. Do not call 911 when you get hurt.
6. Do not call the police to stop intruders in your home.
7. Do not summon the fire department to save your burning home.
8. Do not drive on any paved road, highway, and interstate or drive on any bridge.
9. Do not use public restrooms.
10. Do not send your kids to public schools.
11. Do not put your trash out for city garbage collectors.
12. Do not live in areas with clean air.
13. Do not drink clean water.
14. Do not visit National Parks.
15. Do not visit public museums, zoos, and monuments.
16. Do not eat or use FDA inspected food and medicines.
17. Do not bring your kids to public playgrounds.
18. Do not walk or run on sidewalks.
19. Do not use public recreational facilities such as basketball and tennis courts.
20. Do not seek shelter facilities or food in soup kitchens when you are homeless and hungry.
21. Do not apply for educational or job training assistance when you lose your job.
22. Do not apply for food stamps when you can’t feed your children.
23. Do not use the judiciary system for any reason.
24. Do not ask for an attorney when you are arrested and do not ask for one to be assigned to you by the court.
25. Do not apply for any Pell Grants.
26. Do not use cures that were discovered by labs using federal dollars.
27. Do not fly on federally regulated airplanes.
28. Do not use any product that can trace its development back to NASA.
29. Do not watch the weather provided by the National Weather Service.
30. Do not listen to severe weather warnings from the National Weather Service.
31. Do not listen to tsunami, hurricane, or earthquake alert systems.
32. Do not apply for federal housing.
33. Do not use the internet, which was developed by the military.
34. Do not swim in clean rivers.
35. Do not allow your child to eat school lunches or breakfasts.
36. Do not ask for FEMA assistance when everything you own gets wiped out by disaster.
37. Do not ask the military to defend your life and home in the event of a foreign invasion.
38. Do not use your cell phone or home telephone.
39. Do not buy firearms that wouldn’t have been developed without the support of the US Government and military. That includes most of them.
40. Do not eat USDA inspected produce and meat.
41. Do not apply for government grants to start your own business.
42. Do not apply to win a government contract.
43. Do not buy any vehicle that has been inspected by government safety agencies.
44. Do not buy any product that is protected from poisons, toxins, etc…by the Consumer Protection Agency.
45. Do not save your money in a bank that is FDIC insured.
46. Do not use Veterans benefits or military health care.
47. Do not use the G.I. Bill to go to college.
48. Do not apply for unemployment benefits.
49. Do not use any electricity from companies regulated by the Department of Energy.
50. Do not live in homes that are built to code.
51. Do not run for public office. Politicians are paid with taxpayer dollars.
52. Do not ask for help from the FBI, S.W.A.T, the bomb squad, Homeland Security, State troopers, etc…
53. Do not apply for any government job whatsoever as all state and federal employees are paid with tax dollars.
54. Do not use public libraries.
55. Do not use the US Postal Service.
56. Do not visit the National Archives.
57. Do not visit Presidential Libraries.
58. Do not use airports that are secured by the federal government.
59. Do not apply for loans from any bank that is FDIC insured.
60. Do not ask the government to help you clean up after a tornado.
61. Do not ask the Department of Agriculture to provide a subsidy to help you run your farm.
62. Do not take walks in National Forests.
63. Do not ask for taxpayer dollars for your oil company.
64. Do not ask the federal government to bail your company out during recessions.
65. Do not seek medical care from places that use federal dollars.
66. Do not use Medicaid.
67. Do not use WIC.
68. Do not use electricity generated by Hoover Dam.
69. Do not use electricity or any service provided by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
70. Do not ask the Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild levees when they break.
71. Do not let the Coast Guard save you from drowning when your boat capsizes at sea.
72. Do not ask the government to help evacuate you when all hell breaks loose in the country you are in.
73. Do not visit historic landmarks.
74. Do not visit fisheries.
75. Do not expect to see animals that are federally protected because of the Endangered Species List.
76. Do not expect plows to clear roads of snow and ice so your kids can go to school and so you can get to work.
77. Do not hunt or camp on federal land.
78. Do not work anywhere that has a safe workplace because of government regulations.
79. Do not use public transportation.
80. Do not drink water from public water fountains.
81. Do not whine when someone copies your work and sells it as their own. Government enforces copyright laws.
82. Do not expect to own your home, car, or boat. Government organizes and keeps all titles.
83. Do not expect convicted felons to remain off the streets.
84. Do not eat in restaurants that are regulated by food quality and safety standards.
85. Do not seek help from the US Embassy if you need assistance in a foreign nation.
86. Do not apply for a passport to travel outside of the United States.
87. Do not apply for a patent when you invent something.
88. Do not adopt a child through your local, state, or federal governments.
89.Do not use elevators that have been inspected by federal or state safety regulators.
90. Do not use any resource that was discovered by the USGS.
91. Do not ask for energy assistance from the government.
92. Do not move to any other developed nation, because the taxes are much higher.
93. Do not go to a beach that is kept clean by the state.
94. Do not use money printed by the US Treasury.
95. Do not complain when millions more illegal immigrants cross the border because there are no more border patrol agents.
96. Do not attend a state university.
97. Do not see any doctor that is licensed through the state.
98. Do not use any water from municipal water systems.
99. Do not complain when diseases and viruses, that were once fought around the globe by the US government and CDC, reach your house.
100. Do not work for any company that is required to pay its workers a livable wage, provide them sick days, vacation days, and benefits.
101. Do not expect to be able to vote on election days. Government provides voting booths, election day officials, and voting machines which are paid for with taxes.
102. Do not ride trains. The railroad was built with government financial assistance.

The fact is, we pay for the lifestyle we expect. Without taxes, our lifestyles would be totally different and much harder. America would be a third world country. The less we pay, the less we get in return. Americans pay less taxes today since 1958 and is ranked 32nd out of 34 of the top tax paying countries. Chile and Mexico are 33rd and 34th. The Republicans are lying when they say that we pay the highest taxes in the world and are only attacking taxes to reward corporations and the wealthy and to weaken our infrastructure and way of life. So next time you object to paying taxes or fight to abolish taxes for corporations and the wealthy, keep this quote in mind…

“I like to pay taxes. With them, I buy civilization.” ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

[dkf]

1. That is why everyone should pay at least $1 in federal Income tax.

[sulphurdunn]

2. That would apply

only to the very rich and the very poor. I have no problem with the very poor paying nothing in federal taxes. I'd like to see the very rich pay much more.

[dkf]

10. Why should almost half of Americans get all the perks at no cost?

They get so much as presented in the OP.

[sulphurdunn]

17. What no cost perks?

Do you mean the perks that subsidize the newest 8% structural unemployment rate, rotting infrastructure, foreign adventures, political corruption, financial crime, poverty and environmental degradation? Or should we talk about food stamps? If you mean the perks maintaining the uber wealthy, the relative insurance of paying the lowest effective tax rates in the developed world would be a bargain at thrice the price for the maintenance of their criminal economic system.

[dkf]

19. The perks listed in the OP.

[sulphurdunn]

34. I'm confident

most of the people not making enough money to pay federal income taxes would be delighted to have the income to do so. Federal income taxes aside, when state and local taxes are calculated, the people at the bottom already pay a much higher share of their income in taxes than the very wealthy and thus have much smaller after tax incomes.

[HiPointDem]

24. you can't be for real.

[SammyWinstonJack]

46. I've often thought the same.

[Taitertots]

27. Why do you believe that insane Republican lie?

Why would you repeat it on a progressive discussion board?

[NNN0LHI]

14. I think everyone should pay at least $10,000 in federal Income tax

But to do that we need to raise everyone's wages to the point they could afford to pay that.

Want more people to pay taxes? Then we need to start paying people a fair wage so we can do that.

Don

[nxylas]

3. That argument doesn't really work on libertarians, though

They want most, if not all of those things abolished, and see them as the responsibility of the individual. Who needs police when you have a gun etc etc.

[ProfessorGAC]

26. The Road Thing Does, Though

It's always been a point for which libertarians have no cogent response. There is no effective way to privatize surface streets and, therefore no monetary motivation for building and caring for them. So, if one doesn't want to pay taxes, they should use no raods.

Now, libertarians who believe in government but not a powerful federal government are in a different boat. Well, they are as long as they acknowledge that they would pay the taxes to a different entity. If they think they will pay less taxes to the value of their federal tax bill, they're deluding themselves. In fact, because of the economics of scale, localizing everything could easily cost even more.
GAC

[nxylas]

28. The ones I know just say that all roads should be toll roads

Realism has never been their strong point.

[leftofcool]

4. #'s 16 and 40............not so much

We pay way more than our fair share of taxes yet yet we still have shit in our food supply and crappy medicine, most of it not fit for human consumption. Time to revamp both USDA and FDA or maybe make them do the job we pay them to do.

[Kolesar]

5. Do not underreport income of write fake deductions on your federal tax returns ... eom

[KurtNYC]

6. Who likes taxes?

besides Oliver Wendell Holmes and maybe the 65% of Americans who pay no income taxes yet enjoy all the things on that list.

[PA Democrat]

7. Where to begin?

First, your 65% is wrong. It was 47% in 2009 and is estimated to be about 46.4% for 2011. source:

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxtopics/federal-taxes-households.cfm

Second, of those 46% to 47% percent who pay no federal income tax, let's remember the other taxes that they most likely do pay including:

payroll taxes
federal excise taxes (on things like gas, heating oil, natural gas, phone bills, etc)
state income taxes
state sales taxes
local income taxes
local property taxes

[KurtNYC]

11. Your number is 'households' -- my number is individuals

and it is actually HIGHER than 65%:

165 million tax returns filed (2009 data) but the bottom 40% pay no tax or receive federal subsidies so that is 165m times 60% = 99 million Federal Income taxpayers out of a population of 311 mil therefore I should have said:

"68% of Americans pay no federal income taxes"

'Payroll tax' is income tax. Excise tax is included in sales tax. Not all states have sales tax (Montana, Guam, Oregon, Delaware, New Hampshire).

Only homeowners pay (outrageous) property taxes and the percentage of Americans who own one or more dwellings is even lower than the 32% paying federal income taxes.

[PA Democrat]

12. "Payroll taxes" is a common term used for Social Security & Medicare taxes

Last edited Fri Apr 13, 2012, 09:12 AM - Edit history (1)

Federal income taxes do not include the "payroll tax". Sales taxes, as I used the term are collected by states and local governments. Excise taxes are collected by the federal and state governments. Now that I've explained the terminology that I am using, consider the tax burden by income bracket:



http://ctj.org/ctjreports/2012/04/who_pays_taxes_in_america.php

Personally, I'll happily pay my federal income taxes because I really don't want to be one of those "lucky ducks" who still pay a sizable amount of their incomes in taxes.

[PA Democrat]

18. BTW, do you have a link to support that 65% number?

The only data I've ever seen is based upon "tax unit" or "household" rather than individuals.

[KurtNYC]

29. link

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=220104,00.html

110 million returns = 66%
so 165 mil = 100% of individual returns

[PA Democrat]

32. Your link does not support your assertion.

From your link:

During fiscal year 2009, the IRS collected more than $1.9 trillion in taxes, net of refunds, and processed more than 236 million returns. Nearly 110 million returns, including 66 percent of individual income tax returns, were filed electronically. Nearly 124 million individual income tax return filers received a tax refund and/or economic stimulus payment during the fiscal year. Individual income tax refunds totaled $321.3 billion, and economic stimulus payments totaled over $11.5 billion. In fiscal year 2009, IRS spent an average of 50 cents to collect each $100 of tax revenue.

IRS examined more than 1.4 million individual income tax returns and about 28,000 returns filed by corporations, excluding S corporations. IRS personnel answered nearly 68 million toll-free calls from taxpayers during the fiscal year, and the IRS Web site received more than 296 million visits.

[KurtNYC]

33. Individuals versus households

165 million individual tax returns
US population is 311 mil and I already did the rest of the math for you.

[PA Democrat]

37. Are you REALLY saying that 65% of people pay no federal taxes

using the total US population in your denominator? A total population that includes CHILDREN? Damn those kiddies, they are not pulling their weight. Slackers!



Additionally, when the IRS used the term "individual returns" they are referring to individual and individual households as opposed to businesses. The Form 1040 is called the U.S. Individual Income Tax Return even though you can file one return per household, so one individual income tax return may actually represent the combined incomes of a husband and wife and even income of children under the age of 19 in certain cases.

Hence you cannot extrapolate a figure of 65% pay no taxes based upon a denominator that includes the total US population (including children) and a numerator that may count 2 or more taxpayers in a household as one unit.

[KurtNYC]

40. I never said that children SHOULD pay federal income taxes, only that they didn't

You seem to need a strawman for your word stuffing, childish sarcasm and mocking emoticons but it isn't going to be me.

The Form 1040 is called the U.S. Individual Income Tax Return even though you can file one return per household, so one individual income tax return may actually represent the combined incomes of a husband and wife and even income of children under the age of 19 in certain cases.

So the number of individuals is even LOWER than the 68% that I calculated. Thanks for your help and I am glad you finally understand what I have taught you.

[PA Democrat]

43. LOL. What you "taught" me?

Your logic was flawed. You cannot derive a statistic of the percentage of Americans who do not pay federal income taxes by using a calculation based upon the total number of individual returns filed. As I stated, 1 tax return does not necessarily equal 1 taxpayer.

I just find it curious that you choose to approach the issue of the percentage of Americans paying vs. not paying taxes by including children and other people who for whatever reason do not have income. The numbers are generally reported in the format I presented them, the percentage of households who paid federal income taxes. Perhaps that is because no one thinks that children and people with no income should be expected to pay income taxes?

There are plenty of links to support the statistics I presented. I've yet to see one that supports your numbers.

[HiPointDem]

21. Your claim that the entire bottom 40% of filers don't pay income tax is false. Same for the claim

that non-payers are exclusively from the bottom.


For tax year 2010, roughly 45% of households, or about 69 million, will end up owing nothing in federal income tax, according to estimates by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. Some in that group will even end up getting paid money from the federal government.

Contrary to what many assume, membership in the group isn't restricted to the poor.

It's true that the vast majority of the 69 million households make less than $50,000 -- with very heavy representation among households making less than $30,000.

But nearly 5 million households in the group make somewhere between $50,000 and more than $1 million. The vast majority of that group -- 4.3 million -- make between $50,000 and $100,000. Another 485,000 make between $100,000 and $500,000. And the remaining 18,000 make $500,000 or more

Other data from the IRS show that the tax bite on the very highest income taxpayers has fallen as their incomes have risen. In 2007, the top 400 individual tax returns had an average adjusted gross income of $345 million, up from $47 million in 1992. But their average tax rate was just 17%, down from 26% in 1992.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/14/pf/taxes/who_pays_income_taxes/index.htm


There is no bracket in which people on average pay nothing.

http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/indtaxstats/article/0,,id=96981,00.html#_grp1

[PA Democrat]

25. Great info, HiPointDem!

Thanks for posting.

[KurtNYC]

30. 68% of households with incomes of $50K or less pay nothing

http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/14/pf/taxes/who_pays_income_taxes/index.htm

So the average household in that segment pays no federal income tax.(?)

[HiPointDem]

35. Which means 32% of households in that income group do pay income tax. Contra your original claim.

[KurtNYC]

38. that would be true IF $50K was the cut off for the bottom 40% but it

isn't. Fact.

[HiPointDem]

45. Aside from the fact that your "68%" figure is bogus, I linked the IRS table that shows the average

tax paid in each bracket; i.e. people in every bracket pay taxes.

Not to mention the link showing that the "non-payers" of taxes include millionaires. Fact.

PS: The US median wage in 2010 was $26K. Which means half of working individuals make that or less. Fact.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/the-median-us-wage-in-2010-was-just-26363-government-reports/2011/10/20/gIQAdabX0L_blog.html

[HiPointDem]

23. About 65% of the population owns a house, and renters pay property taxes through their rent.

"Typical examples of excise duties are taxes on gasoline and other fuels, and taxes on tobacco and alcohol (sometimes referred to as sin tax).

Both the federal and state governments levy excise taxes on goods such as alcohol, motor fuel, and tobacco products. Even though federal excise taxes are geographically uniform, state excise taxes vary considerably. However, taxation constitutes a substantial proportion of the retail prices on alcohol and tobacco products.

Local governments may also impose an excise tax. For example, the city of Anchorage, Alaska charges a cigarette tax of $1.30 per pack, which is on top of the federal excise tax and the state excise tax."

They're not sales taxes. Excise taxes on tobacco can be as much as 75% of the price, and these taxes fall heavily on low-income people, who tend to smoke more than upper-class people.



Basically, you have *all* your facts wrong.

[KurtNYC]

31. "65% of the population owns a house" - wrong

"renters pay property tax" - wrong

never said sales and excise tax were the same thing.

and again there is a huge difference between HOUSEHOLDS and individuals. 68% of individuals pay no federal income tax.

I have supplied links to the data for my facts.

[HiPointDem]

36. You supplied one link, and it doesn't support your claims. I provided a link for every one of my

claims, and they support what I said.

You seem to be including children among your "individuals".

[KurtNYC]

39. Children, prisoners, the infirmed, seniors, etc are counted in stats for the population. Yes.

I was asked to back up the stat that 68% of Americans do not pay federal income tax. I did so.

Btw, If you rent your home I double dog dare you to try and write off property tax, that your landlord pays, on YOUR federal income tax. Or do you really need a link to tell you that you can't?

[HiPointDem]

44. Your link didn't give that stat, which is meaningless even if true. Who cares if children don't pay

taxes?

And the fact that renters can't write off property tax doesn't mean they aren't the ultimate payors of property tax through their rents. Unless you think landlords are so self-sacrificing that they set rents lower than the costs of keeping their property.

Like I said, all your "statistics" are bogus.

[SATIRical]

15. Actually

Many of those not only do not pay state income tax, they get EITC to make it so they do not effectively even pay many of those other taxes listed.

[PA Democrat]

16. Facts are your friends....

It’s often claimed that the richest Americans pay a disproportionate share of taxes while those in the bottom half pay nothing. These claims ignore the many taxes that most Americans are subject to — federal payroll taxes, federal excise taxes, state and local taxes — and focus instead on just one tax, the federal personal income tax. The other taxes are mostly regressive, meaning they take a larger share of income from a poor or middle-income family than they take from a rich family.[1]

Many Americans do not have enough income to owe federal personal income taxes, but do pay these other taxes. The federal personal income tax is a progressive tax, and the combination of this tax with the other (mostly regressive) taxes results in a tax system that is, overall, just barely progressive. Total tax obligations are, on average, fairly proportional to income.

This table illustrates the share of total taxes (all federal, state and local taxes) paid by Americans in different income groups in 2011.

http://ctj.org/ctjreports/2012/04/who_pays_taxes_in_america.php

[dkf]

20. Looks like your gripe mostly applies to state and local taxes.

I don't see how you can complain about how another state chooses to tax.

[PA Democrat]

22. I think the people who are "complaining" are those who are moaning over the "lucky ducks"

Last edited Fri Apr 13, 2012, 09:22 AM - Edit history (1)

who pay no federal income taxes as if they are living a life of luxury at the expense of everyone else, as if they contribute NOTHING.

I'm not in that category and I am happy to pay my share of taxes, which is a SIGNIFICANTLY higher rate than that of people like Mitt Romney. I think it's very revealing when people spend more time complaining about the poor not paying taxes than about people like Mitt Romney who pay taxes at a much lower rate than a lot of us who are by no means wealthy.

And as far as those people who pay no federal income taxes, it is only fair to point out that they, in most cases, are already paying a significant chunk of their small income in other forms of taxation. Additionally, those services listed by the OP are not paid for by federal income taxes alone.

And finally, my federal tax dollars are used to shore up the budgets of states who don't want to tax their citizens and businesses, and/ or who choose to impose very regressive taxes like my own state. Please don't tell me I have no right to complain.

Edited to add that the term "lucky ducks" has been used by Republicans to describe people who do not earn enough to pay federal income taxes.

[GOTV]

8. Not all those things are provided by income tax, Everyone who works or spends pays taxes.

And, it may sound weird but I like taxes because of what they provide.

[izquierdista]

9. But most of all.....

STOP using the Internet, you %^#%@$* leech!

[ctaylors6]

13. I reserve my right to complain about taxes

until the tax code is made way less complicated.

At the very least until AMT doesn't hit households making $75k. And some of the other completely dumb rules are eliminated that are currently included in the overly long and complex US tax code.

Honestly, the complexity of the tax code and the myriad of deductions and special rules are why so many people from all income levels think it's unfair and complain about taxes.

[KurtNYC]

41. 103. Don't sit on the $5000 toilet seats

104. Don't read the federally funded study of "the cause of rudeness on tennis courts and smiling patterns in bowling alleys."
105. Don't ride in the $2 mil replica of an early Hawaiian canoe.
106. Don't poop in the $800,000 restroom on Mt McKinley
107. Don't visit the $500K replica of the Great Pyramid of Egypt in Indiana.

To mis-quote the Clown Prince of Hamburgers: 'Ba-dump-bump-bump-ba, Not lovin' it!'