November 08, 2009
UTNE READER

Another Year, the Same Question Why Pay Taxes

April 17, 2002 Issue
By Julie Madsen 
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Another Year, the Same Question: Why Pay Taxes?,

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Geov Parrish, Eat the State!
The question "Why do we pay taxes?" is a perennial one, but this year it is an especially interesting contemplation. Geov Parrish in Eat the State! digs up the usual faults of government spending that should make us examine our steadfast surrender of income every year, but adds that this year's events have created even more dilemmas for taxpayers who are hesitant to fund government initiatives that they find ethically murky. According to Parrish, these conflicts include "the 'War On Terrorism,' tax cuts overwhelmingly favoring the very wealthy, the blank checks--drawing on our tax dollars--being written for military contractors and their high-tech death machines, and a return to massive federal deficits, for starters." The solution? One suggestion is nationwide tax resistance, of which Parrish gives the pros and cons. But while the author warns of the risks of this approach, he concludes that "there's also risks involved in passively cooperating with our own fleecing, or our own demise."
--Julie Madsen
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