Towards the government I feel no scruples and would dodge paying the tax if I could. Yet I would give my life for England readily enough, if I thought it necessary.
I get this sentiment...I even like it.
But then he follows up with...
No one is patriotic about taxes.
...which, yes, I can see the point of, but which also seems an overgeneralisation.
Isn't it possible, after all, to indeed have a certain patriotic feeling about taxes (even grumbling as one pays them...), as long as one has the knowledge that a significant portion of them goes toward maintaining what is -- all things considered, comparatively, by historical and international standards, in spite of the trailer-load of qualifications that I'm not going to bother considering just now -- a decent society?
Or am I just a bit of a freak on this point?
The latter is entirely plausible, I realise.
6 comments:
No, you're not just a freak. Or perhaps we are both freaks together.
I see no problem about paying tax if, as you say, one is reasonably confident that the money goes towards the construction of a decent society,
Of course, given that at the moment 52% of my income goes as tax, and I'm on pensions, then perhaps one is justified in looking askance at what is really going on...
But then, I do live in the Netherlands...
It's not the paying I have a problem with, it's the hassle of filling out a tax form as a freelancer, having to store every ridiculous receipt and then being told by a tax advisor I should still take account of paragraph 1.4.5.2.1.6.10a. It has me bouncing off the walls every year again.
I don't understand the gainfully employed complaining about taxes which are automatically deducted from their wages every month. What is their problem?
But, then again, I might be a freak on that score.
All freaks together then...
Good: I hate to be freaky in isolation.
Count me in as another freak, albeit on the other side of the Atlantic. As with Geoff, I don't mind paying taxes as long as I'm reasonably confident that the money is going toward building a decent society (although here in the US, this might be questionable as long as Republicans are in power). And Ario, I feel for you.
Seeing as I'm among friends there I assume it's safe to admit that I actually feel a stab of pride when I find out about the work of the British High Commission against forced marriages. Tax money well spent I'd say.
Thanks TGM, I did not know about that!
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