The Daily Escape:
Tu Lien Bridge (design, to be built) â Hanoi, Vietnam
Today is officially the day our federal income tax returns are due. Thatâs because April 15 was a Saturday, while Monday is a holiday in Massachusetts. And as the Bay State goes, so goes America when it comes to filing taxes. Wrongo appreciated the extra time.
Americans shouldnât mind paying their taxes. We live in a great country, and if you want to fly first class, you gotta pay the fare (unless, of course, youâre flying Air Force One).
The process of filing taxes could (and should) be simplified, but reducing taxes would be a mistake. America has deferred spending for social needs and for infrastructure, and not just on the federal level. Wrongo sits on his townâs Roads Committee. If we were to continue to fix our local roads at the same rate going forward as we have for the past few years, it will take us 40 years to fix just the roads that are rated âpoorâ quality or worse. Still, many in town think we should spend less, so they could be taxed less. As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes noted in a dissenting opinion in a 1927 Supreme Court case:
Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society.
Some of us are still learning that.
