April, darling April. Month of mud and rain, of melting snow and extremely cold wind and a complete uncertainty regarding what the heck you're supposed to wear when the temperature fluctuates by, like, 40 degrees every afternoon. Oh, and taxes. As everyone's favorite non-denominational holiday looms, here are 10 quotes to share on Tax Day 2017. We'll get through this together. I promise.
Considering we're a country whose independence from Colonial rule arose from outrage at "taxation without representation," it's no wonder that the practice of taxing citizens has remained a highly divisive issue. Income tax was temporarily instated in at the end of the 19th century, to counter the cost of the Civil War; it permanently returned in 1913. In recent generations, it's essentially been party line that Republicans think taxes should be cut (in keeping with their belief of less federal government involvement), while Democrats feel they're inherent to the success of our political system. Democrats also feel those with higher incomes should pay more in taxes, because they can afford to; Republicans do not.
Taxes pay for Medicare and Medicaid; they pay for Social Security; they pay for family and job security programs. They pay, in part, for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is the umbrella organization for PBS and NPR (although that's currently on the chopping block, ha ha, help). They also pay, in large part, for National Defense. Which, frankly, makes the current political situation even more infuriating.
However we may feel about it, though, Tax Day is nigh, so here — have a few quotes to share about it. After all, it's one of the few things that are certain in life, right?
“Death, taxes and childbirth! There's never any convenient time for any of them.”
“As one man explains, 'A lot of us have done OK, but we don't want to lose what we've got, see it given away.' When I ask him what he saw as being 'given away,' it was not public waters given to dumpers, or clean air give to smoke stacks. It was not health or years of life. It was not lost public sector jobs. What he felt was being given away was tax money to support non-working people and non-deserving people — and not just tax money, but honor too.”
“Fear and bigotry don’t need explaining. They simply are, like traffic jams and taxes.”
“He said that there was death and taxes, and taxes was worse, because at least death didn’t happen to you every year.”
"The hardest thing in the world to understand is income taxes."
“Nothing is certain except death and taxes.”
"Our tax code is so long it makes 'War and Peace' seem breezy."
"It is those who are successful, in other words, who are most likely to be given the kinds of special opportunities that lead to further success. It’s the rich who get the biggest tax breaks. It’s the best students who get the best teaching and most attention. And it’s the biggest 9- and 10-year-olds who get the most coaching and practice. Success is the result of what sociologists like to call 'accumulative advantage.'"
"When there is an income tax, the just man will pay more and the unjust less on the same amount of income."
- Plato
