Thursday 28 March 2013

Paying Taxes


            Before I was born people paid taxes.  As a result, when I was born the doctors didn’t care about the state of my mother's finances.  They only worried about keeping us alive.  As I grew up I attended school.  Learning math, science, art and two languages cost my parents no more than their property taxes and some minor school supplies.  When I joined the military I began paying taxes myself, yet the money I paid taxes on first came from the other taxpayers in my country.  Now I research human movement with the tax dollars that come from all over my country (and some from other countries too.)  
            Because of taxes I never needed to worry about my health, there are hospitals and their staff to care for me.  I never had to worry about my safety because the police, prison officers, and military are paid with our taxes.  I’ve always had the choice to vote because my tax dollars fund a democratic society. 
            Yes my government sometimes does stupid things with the money I give them.  I make a fuss from time to time about how we are paying way too much for projects or politicians; and yes, I do take advantage of all the tax savings and rebates I can.  At the end of the day though, I’ll pay my taxes with a smile because I know that I have benefited far more from the taxes of others then I will ever pay in my lifetime. 
            Even if I do end up paying more in taxes then I use (I suppose that’s possible) then nothing could express my sentiment better than the answer of a Canadian when asked by an American interviewer.  “Why should someone else have to pay for your surgery?”  The answer being “Because I would help pay for his if the situation were reversed.  That's just how we do it here.”  Paying my taxes is not a chore, it is a  civic duty, and so is keeping an eye on the people who spend it.  

PS. The government just returned the $415.32 that I over paid in taxes.  Can you say shopping spree?  (Ok, you got me.  It's going against the mortgage.)  

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