Usage Fees Are Fair

I, like many others, abhor the concept of the income tax. I am not, however, opposed to taxes. Au contraire, I believe they are a necessary source of income for our governments. The problem with the concept of the income tax is that you ultimately penalize productivity. I am more than ok with the concept of a sales tax. Heck, if it were up to me, I would completely abolish the income tax and would elevate the sales tax. You see, the way our tax system is structured, you have more than 50% of the population that does not pay income tax. Now, let’s take a look at what that means.

Imagine that you discover an uninhabited island. You decide to establish a colony. People start flocking to your island. Now, you need certain infrastructure. You need to build roads, airports, and harbors. You need to build hospitals and schools. You need to have a security force or agency. You need to have emergency services, such as fire brigades. You need to have electrical grid and waterworks. Bottom line, you need to raise money, for the infrastructure that is needed to develop a working and functional society. Now, we can spend countless of hours arguing how many of these things are the government’s responsibilities and which ones are responsibilities of the private sector. But what there shouldn’t be any argument against, is the fact that if you want to take advantage of living in this island, you have to pay for it.

When you go to a place like Walt Disney World, you pay an entrance fee. Well, taxes are our entrance fee. What you don’t do at a place like WDW is charge people depending on their income. Everyone pays the same rates! You don’t get charged less if you promise to only take certain rides or if you show proof of having low income. You want to take advantage of the benefits of this “world”; you pay for it.

You see, paying taxes gives people a sense of ownership and that is something that people in our society are sorely missing. When you pay your own medical insurance or car insurance, you tend to be a little more careful when you drive or about your health habits, because you know that you’ll end up getting higher premiums if you have too many accidents or are a smoker or have an unhealthy lifestyle. Likewise, why should most citizens that don’t pay taxes, care about taking care of our public utilities.

I think the fairest form of taxation is one that is equal for everyone, and that can only be thru a flat rate (be it the fair tax or the flat tax) although; I personally favor a consumption tax over an income tax… (Everyone consumes, even people that make their income illegally); and EVERYONE PAYS!!!

You ultimately care most about the things you are invested in; thus if everyone pays taxes, everyone will care a little more about where that money goes to!

And don’t worry about the rich; they consume WAY MORE than everyone else, so they will end up paying the majority of taxes anyway (for all you progressives out there!).

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