Posted April 29th, 2011 by Peg
It’s income tax time. Do you know where 9.2% of your taxes will go?
Well, let’s just say that you bought the bullets. (Out out damned spot, you say?)
Then again, $2500 (if your taxable income is about $25,000) might buy more than a few bullets. Maybe you can pay for a whole box of screws for one of our nuclear submarines. Or maybe you even can buy a bit of gas for one of those fancy helicopters.
Sure, better your money than your life, but wouldn’t neither be better still? Wouldn’t it be good if at least you had a choice about serving the military?
I mean, it wouldn’t be so bad if it really were the Department of Defence. There are many arguments in favour of waging a war and, in truth, I find a few convincing; sometimes killing is the best of a bunch of really bad options.
But we live in a world in which countries routinely sell weapons to their enemies. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted April 23rd, 2011 by Peg
If you believe in the supernatural and on that basis obtain a paying job, as a minister, priest, pastor, whatever, you don’t have to pay income tax. If you establish a group of like believers and buy a piece of land and/or a building for meetings, you don’t have to pay property tax. And if your group buys stuff, like computers, billboards, and so on, you don’t have to pay sales tax. You’re a charitable institution.
What’s charitable about killing people who don’t believe what you believe? What’s charitable about telling half of your group that they’re subordinate? What’s charitable about telling another portion of your group that they’re sick? What’s charitable about discouraging rational thought unless it supports your beliefs? What’s charitable about telling all of them they’re sinners just by virtue of having been born?
If we’re going to exempt people from contributing to the upkeep of our roads, hospitals, schools, and so on because of their (presumed) ethically good behavior (an interesting idea, by the way), then let’s at least be consistent: let’s exempt snowplow operators, doctors, nurses, teachers, firefighters, police officers, counselors, plumbers, electricians. And so on.
Posted April 4th, 2011 by Peg
Property tax (money one must pay to the government based on the land, and the building/s on the land, that one owns) is odd in that unlike sales tax (money one must pay to the government based on the goods and services one purchases), it is payable every year, not just once when you buy it. It is, in this respect, more like income tax, which is payable every year. But if you don’t pay your property tax, you lose your property; if you don’t pay your income tax, you don’t lose your income. (Well, you might, if you’re imprisoned, but that’s an indirect result, whereas losing one’s property for failure to pay one’s property tax is a direct result). What justifies this difference, this having to keep on paying property tax even though you own the property (that is, even though you’re not renting, not paying to use someone else’s property)?
One response may be Read the rest of this entry »
