- Happy Tax Day!…
- If taxes are the price we pay for civilization, how much more civilization can we take?…
- Studies suggest 95% of IPO profits are made BEFORE a company goes public. The SpaceX IPO could happen less than two weeks from today.
Dear reader,
Today is the ides of April… the evil day… April 15.
That is, today is Tax Day.
Today is the date by which Americans must appear before agents of the Internal Revenue Service… and empty their pockets upon the counting table.
Salaried income, bonus payments, investment hauls, poker winnings, bingo jackpots, lemonade stand killings, cash gratuities and more — all must come pouring out.
If the tax man suspects you are attempting to withhold one lone penny from him?
He will seize you by the ankles… rotate you upside down, bodily… and shake you plenty hard.
If the merest penny rolls out, you are likely in for a good, hard roughhousing.
He will likely impose extravagant penalties upon you. He may threaten to jug you.
He may actually jug you.
The Price of Civilization
Yet taxes are the price to pay for civilization, argued Justice O. W. Holmes in 1904.
We must therefore conclude that we Americans are a mighty civilized lot.
The United States government hauled aboard some $5.25 trillion in tax revenues last year.
The same United States government is projected to haul aboard some $5.6 trillion in tax revenues this year — or some 17.5% of the gross domestic product.
Meantime, the United States tax code bulges to over 7 million words… several times the vast bulk of King James’ Bible.
Civilization thus shines in everlasting glory!
“Tax Freedom Day,” Then and Now
Now mix in state and local levies.
We discover the average American sweats, huffs and puffs deep into April to work off all federal, state and local taxes.
Now glance rearwards to the year 1900. “Tax Freedom Day” came on Jan. 19.
The average American retired his tax obligation under three weeks into the year.
Comes the inevitable objection:
We hand over far more taxes today than in 1900 because we receive far more government services.
Thus the deal is a square deal. We are getting value for money.Yet is it? And are we?
Sounds More Like a Raw Deal
A 2025 survey by the libertarian-oriented Cato Institute indicates it is not a square deal — and that we are not getting value for money.
Cato:
- More than three-fourths (76 percent) of Americans believe the federal government “spends too much money”…
- A staggering 98 percent of Americans believe there is at least some “waste fraud and/or abuse” in federal spending, including 66 percent who say there is a considerable amount.
- Perceptions of government waste may have reached an all-time high. Americans estimate that 59 cents of every dollar the federal government spends is wasted. This is higher than Gallup has recorded since it began asking the question in 1979.
And:
- Over the past decade, federal government spending has increased about 25 percent per person, adjusted for inflation. When asked if the increase in spending has improved their quality of life, reduced it, or made no difference…
- 8 in 10 Democrats and 9 in 10 Republicans and independents believe the increase in federal spending has not improved their lives…
- The dramatic increase in spending without perceived benefits to voters may raise questions about what value Americans are getting for their tax dollars.
Bipartisan Consensus!
And so we have attained the elusive bipartisan consensus. 80% of Democrats and 90% of Republicans and independents perceive no benefit from elevated federal spending.
What of the remaining 20% and 10%, respectively, who do perceive benefit from elevated federal spending?
Do not forget, there are defense contractors among them both. These groups likewise include perpetrators of fraudulent schemes who prosper from elevated federal spending.
Subtract these beneficiaries of government largesse… and I hazard that 100% of Democrats, Republicans and independents perceive no benefit whatsoever.
Medieval Serfs Paid Lower Taxes than “Free” Americans
I referred to “Tax Freedom Day.” I stated that today’s average American toils deep into April to meet his tax burden.
Next to this “free” fellow, place a medieval serf.
“One day’s labor in 10” was the prevailing principle that governed him.
That is, a medieval serf labored merely one day in 10 to meet his taxes. The remaining nine were his.
Yet today’s American must slave nearly four days in 10 to meet his taxes.
He nonetheless declares himself the freest bird to ever inhabit Earth.
Who Will Pay for It All?
Meantime, government spending is up and away.
Social Security, Medicare and Medicare constitute a rising burden.
Now the president is requesting $1.5 trillion in annual defense spending.
All the while, the United States government is ladling out over $1 trillion annually to service its Himalayan debt.
Are Americans prepared to meet these obligations through the honest proceeds of taxation?
I am very far from convinced that we are.
How Much More Civilization Can America Take?
When Justice Holmes argued taxes are the price we pay for civilization in 1909… the tax bite for the standard American equaled perhaps 3.5% of his intake.
Today, the average American pays some 34.7% of his lifetime earnings in federal, state and local taxes.
That is, the average American worker’s contribution to civilization runs to some 34.7% of his lifetime intake.
A question then arises, invariably:
Can a man who shoulders a 34.7% lifetime tax burden label himself truly free?
More questions yet:
How much more civilization can the United States endure?
And how can that civilization endure… if it must first tax itself to death?
Brian Maher
for Freedom Financial News
