Well, your taxes are due. I LOVE big, overreaching, distant government so much, I made a special trip to D.C. a few years back and just had to see where the magic happens.
When you pay your taxes this year, keep in mind there was no income tax in this country until the early 20th century (making up for lost time, eh Uncle Sam?). Oh, and you pay sales tax, property tax and after all the taxes, when you die, they nail your ass again, even though you’ve already paid taxes on all that. Screw you, loved ones! The government needs this more!
Lest we forget, the government does have needs for revenue – provide for the common defense, basic operational costs…oh and the following; just in case you aren’t annoyed enough.
In 2015, the feds gave $249,000 to UK to find out if cocaine changes monkey behavior. (Yes!) In 2011, a small gas station in Afghanistan added the option to fuel natural gas – which levied the total bill to over $42 million. Keep in mind no one can afford a natural gas vehicle there, but hey, giving back, right? Add $856,000 to see if mountain lions can run on treadmills (yes, they can). $48,500 to write about Russian cigarette smokers. My favorite, $3.1 billion for federal workers’ vacation pay – when they are on administrative leave (for things like getting hookers and one gentleman who was caught pleasing himself in view of other employees).
There’s a lot more – but that should do you just fine. Don’t worry, Congress is on it. The same Congress that is on a different healthcare system than everyone else, retire with millions more than they went in with and is mulling over VAT taxes, carbon taxes and consumption taxes. Remember when we started a war over taxes on tea and the Stamp Act? Well of course you don’t, that was a really long time ago, but you get the point.