Happy Birthday G’ma!

Today was my grandmother’s birthday. She turned 83 today. Go Grams! I called her after work and had a real good chat with her. She’s such a great lady. I was surprised she was still up. I don’t exactly get off work early these days and she’s an hour ahead of us. She must be a night owl. It was good to get to chat with her for a little bit though. It’ll be great to go down to Arkansas this summer to see the farm again and show Jess the place I spent several weeks over several summers when I was a kid.

And because I know she likes my writing… here’s tomorrow’s editorial. I wrote it again. Click HERE!

It’s all about paying taxes. I’m not a huge fan of taxes though I understand the importance of having government properly funded. Like many people though I recognize that our government isn’t exactly “efficient” when it comes to spending money. I believe in government funded social programs. I don’t believe in giving breaks, incentives and subsidies to industries reporting record profits (i.e. oil) while citizens pay higher and higher prices for products. I wish that I had a larger say in what my tax dollars were spent on.

Now there’s an idea… The government should set up a standard tax rate. Say, 5% of income. (Just to pick a number) Then, on your tax forms, instead of claiming exemptions and loopholes and whatever, the tax form is a big list of government departments/programs. On the form you’re allowed to choose where your part of taxes goes. Administration of this could be an issue but you could set aside 1/100 of a percent of everyone’s taxes for administration. That should cover everything pretty well. Then I wouldn’t feel so bad about paying taxes. I would know my tax dollars are being spent on things I agree with. I wouldn’t have to feel like I was supporting a war I disagreed with, or funding big oil or any industry contributing to global warming.

I should be a politician. This is a plan that needs to be implemented.