No more taxes! When I think about how much my husband and I have paid in taxes in our lifetime I am astounded that this country is in debt. What happens to all of our money? I remember being 7 years old listening to a conversation between my parents while preparing their tax return. The word income tax was mentioned. At that age I had no idea what income was so I asked my dad, "What is income?" He explained that is the money received for working. When he explained that income tax is the money workers pay to the government I was in shock. "You mean you have to pay the government money to go to work. When I'm an adult I am not going to do that!" He responded, "You have no choice because you don't have an option to pay the government because they take your money before your employer pays you." Still to this day I find the notion of income tax to be bizarre. Now I understand why we have to pay tax because we use the services provided for by the government but a psychological benchmark must exist whereby too much tax impacts the individual's productivity.
There must be a barrier of acceptance because I believe I have reached that barrier. I read an article today about a tax on miles traveled which is being considered by Translink as a means to generate revenue for transportation projects. Currently, Translink generates revenue from property taxes and a portion of fuel tax revenue but apparently that isn't enough to fund future projects so out of desperation they are looking to the taxpayer once again to finance projects but at what point does the taxpayer revolt? We pay tax to go to work, property tax, sales tax, fuel tax, death tax, everywhere we go we pay tax then we pay for licenses, permits, parking, and on and on it goes. To add insult to injury we are faced with a wait list if we are sick. The government worries about the aging population and rising health care costs but where will it stop? I think we should be able to expect something in return for the amount of tax we pay.
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