I haven’t
paid my property taxes yet. I know, I know,
I’m a horrible person. I don’t even feel bad about it, which probably makes me
an even worse person who should be rode out of town on a rail after being
tarred and feathered. Slander me, libel
me, cast your slings and arrows as you
may, I am unrepentant.
The truth is, my taxes were due in December and
I was eyeball deep into a car repair (that continued on into almost February) plus the holidays were
going on. Paying my property taxes wasn’t
really a priority. I knew the local
county government would send me a series of increasingly shrill reminders, and
that whether I paid them in December or January or June, life would go on. The sun would continue to rise, the flowers
would eventually bloom, and, aside from the increasingly shrill reminders, the local
county government would even go on. So
though it existed as a thing in the back of my brain, I wasn’t worried. I would get to it, eventually. Now unfortunately,
I couldn’t delay this in perpetuity because, in the world we live in, they will
take ‘your’ property away if you don’t pay them ‘their’ money. Maybe someday somebody will explain to me
that particular nugget of craziness. Either
way, I haven’t paid them.
So now it’s May, and I decided , mainly to
put my wife’s mind at ease, we would make plans to pay them. I worked a little extra and have
part of the taxes, and on Friday
it is my intention to go up there and
hand over, to them, a portion of my life. But I refuse to feel bad about making them
wait.
We have been debt free except for the house
for a while now, and when I owe somebody money, I do fret about it. The other day
I bought hay and chicken feed from a local merchant and was a dollar short of the
purchase price. The next day I probably burned
3 bucks in gas to make sure I got him his dollar. It was a legitimate debt, and so I took it
seriously. I had entered into a transaction with him for goods, and I had
possession of the goods so he should have possession of the money he exchanged for
those goods. That’s being a good
Christian, and a good neighbor; don’t make folks wait for the money you owe
them. If I had been delayed, for whatever
reason in paying him, it would have bothered me and embarrassed me. I would
have felt like less of a man, and when I finally got him his money, I would
have apologized for making him wait. As I recall I did apologize over the dollar. A
man ought to pay his bills, and ought to meet his obligations.
The reason I have none of these reactions to
my tax bill is simple; I don’t ‘owe ‘ them anything. There was no exchange. They provided no goods
and no services, just a demand for money.
In the year since I last paid this money, no county employee has to my
knowledge set foot on my property or contributed to it’s upkeep. My life is absolutely no better or easier
after having paid them last year. So by what line of reasoning do they sit up
in their air-conditioned office and wait patiently (not really) for my
check? What gives them the right?
I have a friend whose opinion I respect even when
we disagree, and he maintains that taxation is a prerogative of government
according to the Bible. It’s led to some
interesting discussions. He cites Samuel’s predictions about the reign of Saul as
his ‘proof text’. It’s at least a more interesting
reason than “Taxes are the rent you pay
for living in America”, which was cited
to me by a former co-worker. Be that as it may, the facts are simple. They have
done nothing to earn this money, and I will be paying them not because of what
they have done for me, but rather what they will do to me if I do not comply. You will pay or we will remove you from your
land. That’s the deal. You will pay what we say when we say it and if we decide
we want more next year, you will also pay that. Stripped
of all pretenses, the relationship is
entirely one of coercion, and force.
I will go up there Friday. Or maybe
Saturday. Monday is a very good
possibility. Tuesday if Monday falls
through. Definitely by the end of the week. I am mostly certain they will
get the money by June. I will go pay them, but I won’t do it with my
hat in my hand or an apology in my heart.
I know people who would, and who would make
various promises about future
deliverance of assets in a more timely manner.
I’m certain the employees there
at the tax office would cluck understandingly at the
good intentions of the hapless
boob standing before them apologizing for being late with money they don’t owe
for services they didn’t receive. The
employee probably might even have convinced themselves that the relationship is
not one of coercion. I don’t have time
for such games. I will treat their institution the same way I would a mugger ; “Here
take the money, we don’t want any trouble.” I will, at least mentally, liken myself to Hank Rearden, the Atlas Shrugged character , who told the courtroom
"If it is now believed that my fellow men may sacrifice me in any manner they please for the sake of whatever they deem to be their own good, if they believe that they may seize my property simply because they need it - well, so does any burglar. There is only this difference: the burglar does not ask me to sanction his act."
1 comment:
Great reading
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