The IRS.

I don't know about you, but the IRS is always lurking somewhere in the back of my mind.  At the end of December I start to tense up, and then in January when the required reporting documents start appearing in my mail box I go into full revulsion of the whole process.  Why should any American be required to hire outside help to pay his taxes?  Well, for one thing, the entire tax code is an impossible mire of mumbo jumbo that can't be interpreted the same way by any two people, and that includes those who work for the IRS.  Just look how many outside agencies are making money off the American Taxpayer.  You have agencies who sell computerized programs to guide you through the process.  I've watched my tax preparer try and use these programs and he has trouble with them even though he has used them for years and is very conversant with the tax code.  Then you have companies who will actually prepare the tax forms for you.  They even make money off filing the short form.  Then you have companies made up of former IRS agents who will go with you to fight for your rights as a citizen when the IRS interprets your tax documents differently than you did.

Yesterday, an Austin, TX man killed himself by crashing an airplane into a building that housed the IRS.  I think very few people would go that far, but it does highlight an increasing dissatisfaction with the government for ignoring the people who elected them.  Are you inclined to cooperate fully with the census?  Read Walter Williams column for February 17, 2010 for a better explanation.  I have long felt the increasing sprawl of federal government power in the lives of tax paying Americans.  The U. S. Constitution is being trampled by those who write our laws and those who interpret them.  Our inability to live within our budget is directly related to the number of  "needy" people who depend on the federal government for sustenance.  We support not only our own country and its citizens, but somehow we have the idea the American taxpayer is responsible for other countries and their citizens.  I not talking about temporary benevolent aid, I'm speaking here of lifetime commitments.  Throughout our history, some politicians have filled their own pockets with money stolen from the U. S. Treasury.  However, now many are stealing it not only for themselves, but for other ne'er do wells who have learned to live off of government donations to their worthless lifestyles.  No wonder people are feeling the way they do.

I would feel much better if we had a flat tax which required everyone to pay.  Imagine how simple the tax code would be then.  I would also like to see a system requiring some type of work to be associated with welfare, and severe penalties for fraud.  We could also simplify the Immigration laws and only allow immigration to those who made proper application and met stringent criteria for entry.  No citizenship for children born here just because their parents made the swim before they were delivered.  You might ask what this has to do with the tax code, but it has a lot to do with how many tax dollars are wasted on illegal immigrants.  I live in an area of the country awash with people who need a handout, and a goodly number are illegal immigrants.  We need to clean house in D.C. electing candidates who have high moral values, integrity, and a sense of patriotic duty.  I truly believe their are more of us than there are of them and we should all turn out at the polls.  Be sure to go to your primary elections too.  We can weed out the pretenders and long time political hacks during the primary elections.

The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creature that cannot.
  - Mark Twain