By Scott Tibbs, April 16, 2009
Hundreds of Monroe County taxpayers angry about the massive debt that President Obama is racking up on this and future generations, the massive increases in government power and spending, and the inevitable significant increase in the tax burden to pay for all of it gathered at the Showers Building for a Tax Day Tea Party. This was party of a national "Tax Day Tea Party" event that included many other cities. It was encouraging to see so many people there, especially in a county where Barack Obama obliterated his opponent by a 2-to-1 margin, 66% to 33%.
When the Afternoon Edition had the "week in review" last week, one of the hosts suggested this would be a BYOW (bring your own whine) event and expressed concern that we're moving from protesting taxation without representation to taxation with representation.
While it is true that one of the main complaints the colonies had against England was taxation without representation, it is important to note that taxation itself can be a significant restriction on liberty. The question is what level of taxation is appropriate to run the government and what level of taxation unjustifiably infringes on our liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Most people would agree that a tax rate of 100%, where the government takes everything you earn and distributes that money as it sees fit, is tyranny. Is it tyranny when 25% of your paycheck disappears before you even see it to federal, state, local, Social Security and Medicare taxes?
Income taxes are only part of the tax burden. Property taxes fund local government, and sales taxes help fund state government. There are various "sin taxes" on alcohol, tobacco and gambling. Some of those taxes go to fund what many people consider waste, such as subsidies of professional sports teams. Then there is the issue of government giving our tax money to abortion providers.
Pictures are below.
Again, it was encouraging to see so many people protesting the excessive tax burden placed on us by the federal government and out-of-control government spending. However, I find it unfortunate that pocketbook issues bring well over 500 people to downtown Bloomington to protest, while the hundreds of babies killed by dismemberment for profit by Planned Parenthood motivates no more than 200 to make their voices heard. The loss of liberty to an ever-expanding government is a critical issue, but it pales in comparison to the 50 million babies killed by our abortion industry.
