Taxes?

[mrs.b]

Tax rates are representative of how we've lived for a number of years. It makes me a little nauseas to see how much of my and our workers' paychecks go to government that will mismanage funds, but we let it get that way and are reaping the results.

We've let our infrastructure deteriorate until it is now one of the most outdated and poorly functioning among industrialized nations because we continually voted down projects that, at the time, would have been costly but are now astronomical in budget to address, and still must be fixed. If our tax monies were making much of a dent in needed repairs and upgrades, I might not have such an issue with roughly 40% of my paycheck disappearing before I ever see it, because I would someday reap other benefits such as increased efficiency.

The growing gap between rich and poor in the country tells me we are losing our middle class at a scary rate, and that is largely due to unemployment levels, downgraded workers, and the number of people who have left the job market for lack of option. That is not something that, I believe, needs overwhelming welfare programs to repair, but if we can stop wasting money on pointless projects that simply waste funds needed elsewhere (Solyndra we all know about, but First Solar took three times as much and is in its death bed), we might be able to pay some of our nation's debts, fund programs that aren't failures before they get started, and look toward greener technologies that are viable and not just driven by generous political donors, that might add new jobs, increase productivity in others, and let the whole issue sort itself out.

Don't get me started on the educational system for our children; another thread should shed enough light on my opinion of the value in that.

We've all accepted the tax system and pushed for it by voting the way we do, electing the people that cannot figure out how to make reasonable purchasing programs so they are not buying overpriced and sub-quality materials, or waiting until the 11th hour to seriously contemplate development of a budget, and so on. I look at taxes each paycheck like I would look at payment for stupid, impulse buys; I might have thought it was a good idea two or four years ago, but I did not think it through, got nothing out of it, but still have to pay for it. If only we could vote with as much consideration and vehemence as we waste complaining, we might see improvement.

Edit: I work for a global organization, in one of their smaller facilities doing HR, Ops support, accounting and reporting, but hubby and I are slowly (sloooowly) developing plans to eventually become self-employed.

P.P.S: My use of "we" throughout is collective for the voting population, not in the royal sense. My votes on much of these issues go towards solutions that might spend a bit now, but are proven by historical testing to be permanent solutions, and are often in the minority so never come to fruition. We (as in my tiny family) do our best with the system in place, and make decisions - such as pulling our child out of the public school system - when collective decisions interfere with our family's well-being.