Your tax dollars at rest
Our basic problem is that we, as a people, are somewhat
ambivalent about surrendering our own hard won money for something as
nebulous as the costs of living as a collective nation.
When I was a kid the signs were everywhere. In bold, black
letters they read, "Your Tax Dollars At Work." Unfortunately for
the IRS, there was often, in the very shade of the sign, a highway worker
leaning on a shovel, cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth.
Sadly, some of those people are still being propped up. It may have been
the most overt sign of the IRS’s public relations problems but not the
worst.
I’ve often wondered if the exercise we go through every
April 15th really has to be so infuriating. I think it is safe
to say that almost everybody, save tax attorneys, finds the process, if
not the concept, of paying taxes relatively hateful. It would seem that we
could do better. Does the IRS really have to bring each and every American’s
blood to a boil? Do they get some sort of perverse joy out of confounding
millions of people?
What is it exactly that makes the tax process so
unpleasant? I think there are both practical and philosophical reasons the
IRS engenders so much enmity. Some of the problems can be solved by the
IRS and the congressmen who write tax laws. Other issues that I would
consider more philosophical stumbling blocks, we simply have to come to
terms with.
I would venture to say most Americans truly love to spend
money. Our economy is, at times, driven by consumption. The government
economists are constantly encouraging us to save more than spend, because,
left to our own devices, we might just spend it all. Spending is an
exercise of power, however transient.
So why is spending on taxes so different? Primarily, I
think it is because we can’t easily define what we "get" for
our money. The product we buy every April 15th is either
intangible, irrelevant, or invisible.
I recently went to the Congressional Budget Office web
site trying to find a simple breakdown of what we buy with our money. All
I wanted was a pie chart telling me, in percentages, the allocations of
the federal budget. I found reams of reports and spread sheets riddled
with indecipherable jargon. I couldn’t figure it out, so I’ll venture
a few guesses as to what we spend money on.
Certainly, defense is a big part of the budget. And what
are we getting other than a lot of snappy looking jets that none of us get
to fly? We are buying a sense of security and, to a lesser extent, a sense
of pride. Both are nice to have but hard to hold in one’s hands.
We also buy civil order in the form of police and fire
protection. Again, it is nice to have but easy to take for granted. It is
like buying a negative. If nothing happens, you’ve gotten your money’s
worth.
No doubt we spend a lot of money on social programs:
constructing safety nets for the old, sick, and the unfortunate. To a
certain extent, these programs work to society’s benefit, but to the
average tax payer the gain is invisible. Likewise, appropriations for
education are well spent but the return on them are long in coming and
hard to define. What should be the cost of an educated society?
I would imagine we spend a fair amount on transportation
as well. Roads and bridges and airports are certainly tangible purchases.
The problem with transportation is that the average transportation horror
story—everyone has one or two—far outlives the memories of the
"smooth" trips we take on the national transportation system.
I could go on, but the theme is the same: we pay but we
don’t feel like we getting much back.
A second reason taxes are so maddening is the process
itself is utterly confounding. There is a great irony in the cliche about
death and taxes being the only things certain in life. Doing one’s taxes
is anything but certain. It is wallowing in a swamp of uncertainty
and interpretation for days on end. The tax code is so convoluted and
complex now that it is virtually inaccessible to the average guy. I doubt
that even the tax attorneys are sure about everything.
Certainly, some of that complexity is due to special
interest groups inserting their own tax breaks in there. But there are
also a myriad of rules and conditions and sub-conditions in the laws for
the cause of equity. The absurdity of it is that the very people who are
meant to benefit from all of the equality provisions cannot afford to hire
the tax attorney it takes to negotiate the maze of laws.
The IRS does have free help lines and web sites. I’ve
used them. I couldn’t, with good conscience, send anyone into that kind
of a hell.
A third reason the tax collectors receive our ire is
because there is so much blatant waste and abuse of our money. This is no
revelation to anyone. We have all heard the news stories of the
ridiculously expensive toilets the Pentagon buys, the highways to nowhere
that congressmen insist on building, the social security checks going to
dead people. What is astounding is that we’ve been aware of the waste
and inefficiency for so long, and yet it is still going on. We tolerate
it; government workers expect it.
Finally, perhaps the most problematic aspect of taxes may
be one of philosophy.
Our basic problem is that we, as a people, are somewhat
ambivalent about surrendering our own hard won money for something as
nebulous as the costs of living as a collective nation. Our country is
built on the premise of individual and equal freedoms. The central
contradiction and irony of the American experience is that to guarantee
and protect these freedoms for all, we have to establish a government that
by its mere existence diminishes personal freedoms.
