As tax season is officially over, I can now announce how happy I am that I have paid my taxes.
No, I’m not actually kidding.
I like to pay my taxes. It’s very simple really, in the past few weeks or so I have been strongly reminded of some things I like. A Lot. They include:
- Roads that don’t collapse or wear out my tires excessively (or make me car sick)
- Police who are quick to check on your house when the alarm goes off because your husband accidentally turned it on. And polite and thorough to make sure you are you say you are and that you really ARE safe.
- I know I might be alone in this – but the cops who write stupidly expensive tickets for stupid entitled drivers
- Hospitals which are not allowed to turn away patients – so even the poorest of people can receive life-saving aide (and I don’t want to imagine the doctor who would willingly turn away a patient)
- Firemen who respond to prevent people from burning down entire neighborhoods
- Libraries which have lots of awesome books and can afford to curate across genres and ages because they can afford a variety of librarians who work to provide for me
- Electricity which is restored quickly after major storms knock it out
- Programs which help families feed themselves and their children
- Schools which prevent the people around me from being stupid (I kind of like living around people who are smart)
Atlanta is experiencing an infrastructure crisis, and it’s from years/decades of people whining about “how much” they pay in taxes. Well, maybe I’m naive – but I think the return on investment for my tax dollars is actually fairly amazing. It’s like we have some kind of collective bargaining or co-op sort of thing so each of us pays a little bit and we do huge things together!
I could support politicians who say “Hey, do you know if we charged PENNIES on everything except food we could have the best transit system in the country – public transit so you don’t have to bear high blood pressure of traffic.” I can support the politician who says “We struggle to get young people to be teachers because they can make a better wage doing a helluva lot less work as a secretary – fewer hours, more authority AND more money – maybe we should increase property taxes by 1% and give all that to teachers wages.”
I am tired of being promised “more with less” because in my experience it’s a lie. I am tired of being lied to and tired of seeing people believe the lies. I want my tax dollars used wisely. I want them used to benefit my community. When they benefit the poorest, I benefit. When they benefit the dumbest, I know I benefit. When they benefit me – I am grateful that everyone else paid their taxes.
Dream by Day 