Tax us!

Tax us!

I have heard this from two different sources recently, so I wanted to talk about it.

What does it mean when someone says "Tax us!"?  And why don't they say "Tax me!"?

I believe words have significance and are very important.  This case is no exception.

If I were to go out and say "Tax me!" I should be laughed at.  If I want to give more money to the government, I could.  Now, I know that there was some discussion (and even a bill) about making sure it was law that wealthy people could give as much as they wanted to the federal government.  However, based upon the research I have done, (and this website from the federal government http://www.fms.treas.gov/faq/moretopics_gifts.html ) anyone can give to the federal government anytime they want (and has been able to since 1843).

If I want to give money to the government, I can.  There is no reason to say "Tax me!" as that is like saying "Please force me to give you money, when I already want to give you money and you have specifically already set up a way for me to give you money if I want to."  Again, a laughable proposition.

So, why the "us" instead of the "me"?

There can be a couple of reasons why someone would use us instead of me.  One reason is that the person speaking is representing the group.  This is clearly as laughable as tax me.  If everyone in the group of "us" wanted to be taxed more, then everyone in the group could simply act as "me"s and donate more to the government.  So, clearly that is not the reason.

In this case, the reason they say "us" is because they are trying to group a bunch of people together.  What they are trying to say is "Tax all of my group".  What they are implying is "Tax all of my group...some of whom don't want to be taxed."  And, since desire to be taxed is implied in the request, it could be restated as "Tax all of those in my group who don't want to be taxed."

And that is the dirty little lie of "Tax us!"  It is not really a request to tax us.  It is a request to tax those in my group who don't want to be taxed.

Or, stated differently, "Please use the force of the government (aka the gun) to take money from some other people."  

So, whenever I hear someone say "Tax us!" I view that person as a thief who is not brave enough to perform the act of theft himself...or perhaps as an accessory to theft.  Overall, however, I realize that the person speaking is not trying to give of himself (which is what he wants you to think), but is trying to take from others.



The first time I heard this recently was when I heard of some millionaire in Washington D.C. to try to convince Congress to "Tax us!" (with the us being millionaires).

The second time I heard this was when FoxNews broke a story talking about a proposed "tax on Christmas trees".  I then heard the "local reaction" on WOOD-TV.  The idea was to tax Christmas tree sellers $0.15 per Christmas tree.  This money would go to Washington D.C. and then be used to generically promote Christmas trees.

Now, I don't remember where exactly in the Constitution the clause was for "promoting fresh cut Christmas trees", but when you find it, please let me know.  Besides that obvious problem, isn't a "Christmas" tree specific to a certain religion?  By promoting "Christmas" trees, isn't the government specifically promoting a religion?  I remember reading something somewhere about that not being a good thing.

The initial national story:  http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/11/09/merry-christmas-agriculture-department-imposes-christmas-tree-tax/

The initial WOOD-TV story:  http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local/sw_mich/christmas-tree-fee-delay-upsets-growers

The important thing about the local story is that it makes the same argument as the "Tax us!" people.  In the local story you have a local tree grower upset because the government isn't going to tax everyone to pay for a marketing campaign.

So, I have to ask a question.  What would keep all those who wanted to (including the local tree grower in the story) from getting together, paying $0.15 per tree, hiring a marketing firm, and promoting fresh cut Christmas trees from doing so?  The answer is "absolutely nothing at all, except selfishness and a desire to control money/productivity they did not produce".  So, why don't they do it?  Because one grower doesn't want to pay for marketing that may benefit a competitor without the competitor also paying for it?  Or because some tree farms have as much business as they can handle and don't want to do marketing?  Or because some are small enough that they don't want to spend money on marketing?

Who knows exactly.  But what it comes down to is that one part of an industry wants to use the government (aka the gun) to impose a marketing campaign on the rest of the industry who doesn't want it.

Or, stated differently, "Please use the force of the government (aka the gun) to take money from some other people." 



So, whenever you hear someone say "Tax us!", make sure you remember that the person speaking is at heart a thief, not an altruist.

Aloha.