It is that time of year that everyone loves to hate. Everyone is talking about having to pay their taxes. Many people dread this time of year knowing that they will have to find and turn loose of some money and send it off to the government. Many others are excited about getting back their refund where they have overpaid and given the government an interest free loan. And then there is a special group that wins the lottery ever year by applying for Earned Income Credit (EITC or EIC). This credit is refundable – meaning you may get more money in your refund than you had withheld from your pay. In fact, you may get money back even if you didn’t have any income tax withheld from your pay. I personally do not want to pay any more than I have to, I do not like lending the government money interest free, and I do not like folks getting a refund when they haven’t contributed (paid) any money. A refund by definition means you over paid so the Earned Income Credit is more of a gift than a refund. But all this is beside the point. No one likes to give their money to the government. But let us consider what we get for the money. We enjoy driving on paved roads paid for by our tax dollars. We enjoy having lights and heat produced by government agencies like TVA paid for by our tax dollars. We have access to public education paid for by our tax dollars. The list of services and amenities paid for by our tax dollars is a very long list. Make no mistake there is an incredible amount of waste and mismanagement of our tax dollars and we seem to allow this without much concern or complain. Rather than complaining about having to pay taxes Americans should be complaining loudly about the waste. Romans 13:7-8 states, “For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” We all take advantage of all the services and amenities our Country and State offers so we should all pay our fair share. It is difficult to part with our hard-earned money but if we are honest and look at the big picture, we are getting a pretty good deal. If we look around the world at socialist countries paying 70% of their income like Venezuela where the government has all but ceased to exist. Venezuela has no running water, electricity, or government services. Recently the utopian country of Finland has gone broke trying give everyone free health care. Utopic socialist government all start giving everyone everything for free and then the taxes go up, people stop working and it all caves in on itself. Free is never free. Again, we all hate to pay taxes but we must remember the old saying that states, “you get what you pay for” and start appreciating our great Country. Find you a good, experienced, and honest tax consultant/preparer and file your taxes timely and send a “Thank You” note with the return.
