Death and Taxes.

Tonight I had to go to a funeral of a friend. As I drove on this cloudy, gray, evening, I reflected on how I knew him when we last visited, his last few months, and ultimately on death. Death is not a bad thing, I thought to myself, as our bodies seem to wear out for one reason or another. Thus, we so readily state the obvious and often recite, “Only two things are known; death and taxes.”

That basic assumption though, bothers me and caused me to further think how I cannot do anything about death. I know with certainty I will die, you will die, and everyone around me will die. Of course, the cause of death cannot be predicted but the risks associated with it can be minimized. Each of us tries to live with a goal of prolonging life as it is paramount to the survival of our species, and any other, to do so. With that in mind though, we must die as we scientifically understand death. We cannot change that one basic fact about our life.

However, taxes on the other hand are not an absolute. At some point in our ancestral history it appears that we evolved to accept taxes part of our being, just like death. Instead of continually working toward ending this other ‘absolute’ in our lives our society seems to willingly perpetuate this self-destructive mechanism upon ourselves. Taking a step back, maybe a better word for tax would be “privilege payment”. I am thinking that we pay for the privilege of living in a civilized society, and this argument could be made throughout human history. Most of us are willing to contribute a nominal amount of our individual efforts to support the purported common good of the society in which we live.

I accept there is a cost to the civilization in which I desire to live. I expect to have infrastructure to bring me water, carry away my waste, defend my country, and provide for me to move from place to place. In some instances, I do not object to contributing to a common indigent fund for those that cannot work or are suffering physically.

Arguably, there may be additional ‘common goods’ we may decide to support. For instance, we may agree, or disagree, on the need for a method to enforce rules and laws and thus pay the personnel needed to do those jobs. We may want workplace safety, trees planted along side boulevards, stripes down the middle of roads, and jails to house those that do not follow our rules. Some members of our society may decide to put money toward paying others not to plant crops, not to go to work, or to take care of doctor’s bills, to give some people meals, housing, and even access to the internet; all in the name of the common good of the society.

Regardless of the specifics of the individual line items that we agree to allow our taxes to pay, we should be asking if it is necessary. I choose to minimize the risks I take in my daily life and therefore am hopefully prolonging my life and cheating death. I argue that we no longer do the same regarding taxes and instead readily acquiesce to turning more benefits of our individual efforts to a common entity to control and disburse. When this happens, we no longer have our individuality and we have voluntarily enslaved ourselves to an entity that we may not be able to escape. In ancient times entire societies fled enslavement and they knew they had to for a better life.

Death is inevitable; the process of self-destruction through taxation is not. Taxes are acceptable when presented with a true cost and benefit analysis, a clear exit strategy from the tax, and a method to provide for checks and balances against a tax. If you were taking an inventory of your personal health in an effort to ensure you were prolonging your life you would question every risk, every activity, and eliminate those that are harming you. This same analysis must be performed frequently and regularly regarding taxes. We must question every dollar that is spent and be willing to take tough measures to eliminate waste, just as you would do personally.