Today’s the day citizens are supposed to mail off their tax forms. And in honor of that day, here are some interesting links:
Kevin Drum has a in interesting post about who’s really getting “soaked” by our tax structure: “How to think about taxes” Hint: It’s probably not who you think.
Closer to home, we have lots of articles about “tax protesters” coming out of the woodwork to protest that … the federal government requires money to operate!
“What works in America is always and has always been freedom,” DeMint said. “The only way we’re going to stop our…spending is to do these (rallies) all over the country as long as it takes to take back our government.”
Or, we could have simply not rushed into Iraq. But I digress… How does DeMint think we should control spending?
DeMint urged support for proposals such as school-choice and private health care over reforms that give government greater control.
… by giving tax money away to unaccountable private schools and pouring money into the impenetrable bureaucratic hell of private insurance companies, of course! That’s true freedom! Makes about as much sense as anything else tax protesters say, I suppose.
The “FairTax” folks are also getting in on the act:
Advocates of the FairTax also will rally at the Township Auditorium this evening. The FairTax would replace federal income taxes with a 30 percent (23 percent when included in the price) sales tax on services and sales of new goods.
Why this gets any traction in South Carolina (aside from the crazy truck guys) is beyond me. We already tried swapping out property taxes for increased sales taxes in this state. Now we have higher sales taxes and the state budget is still screwed.
Last but not least, here’s Indigo Journal’s open thread on the tax protests – with a few pictures: [Tax protesters open thread]
Happy tax day!