For two reasons…first, is the more pragmatic of the two…since I run my own business, taxes force me at least once a year to really look at where my revenue comes from and where my expenses go to (I do have a business tracking spreadsheet that is updated monthly – but not to this level of detail). . Yes – I know I should do this more than just once a year and sometimes I do. But that isn’t where my passion and thus my motivation is…so I put it off. So being the procrastinator I am, I am thankful that taxes force me to do this at least once a year…
Second, and more philosophically, I appreciate that paying taxes is what allows me to have things such as roads and laws and security and safe water/products/air and education and a host of other things. Too often we discount how much we depend on public goods and services. Yes, government could be more productive and efficient. Yes, government could be smaller in some instances. But as my economics 101 class taught me a long time ago, public goods should and need to be run in a way that they are not just for the wealthy among us.
That’s my two-cents worth anyway…
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