About five months before Benjamin Franklin died, he wrote to French scientist Jean-Baptiste Le Roy in November 1789 with worries about his friend, since the French Revolution had sparked earlier that year.
Franklin was a star in France while securing its support and financing during the American Revolution. The letter, written in French, provided big news: the U.S. Constitution was ratified the previous year, and a new American government was operating.
“Our new Constitution is now established, everything seems to promise it will be durable; but, in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes,” Franklin said.
Ah, the famous quote about taxes. It was taxation without representation that gave the American cause momentum. The revolution didn’t eliminate taxes, it only ensured that the new nation would have self-determination.
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It’s worth noting that taxes went up after the revolution in order to pay off debts. War is expensive.
Monday is Tax Day, when 160 million individual and business returns are expected to filed with the Internal Revenue Service.
Each year, I drop off our taxes with a preparer and feel like I’m entering a lottery. After tinkering with paycheck withholdings with best estimates, the anxiety remains on whether I’ll end up with money back or a bill to pay. Only once has my return broken even.
On the whole, I get a pretty good return on investment. My life has been enriched with taxpayer funded programs, from my public education to having food safety in stores and restaurants. My payments bring the protection of police and firefighters, clean and running water, paved roads, and recreation through parks, museums and performing arts centers.
Even the services I don’t use — such as food assistance or veterans benefits — create a better community for everyone. I’m fine with that.
As a colleague likes to say, “I haven’t used the Tulsa County jail one time, and I still have to pay for it.”
The Pew Research Center found some interesting thoughts and tidbits about U.S. taxes.
Unfair taxation: About six-in-10 U.S. adults say they’re bothered a lot by the feeling that some corporations (61%) and some wealthy people (60%) don’t pay their fair share. Those feelings are heavier among Democrats than Republicans.
About two-thirds (65%) support raising tax rates on large businesses and corporations, and 61% back higher tax rates on households with annual incomes over $400,000. Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to say these tax rates should increase.
Fair share: About 56% of Americans say they are paying more than their fair share of taxes. That’s up from 49% in 2021. About one-third say they are paying about the right amount, and 8% say they are undertaxed.
Confusing system: About half (53%) of taxpayers express frustration about the tax code complexity. This was a top grievance among Republicans at 59%, compared to 49% of Democrats.
People paying up: Individual income taxes are the federal government’s largest source of revenue, bringing in about $2.5 trillion annually (49% of total receipts). Social Security taxes (including disability and retirement programs) come in next at $1.2 trillion (24% of income). Corporate taxes bring in $612.8 billion (12% of the total), and excise taxes (transportation trust revenue and taxes on tobacco, alcohol and oil) remit $99.7 billion (2%).
Human costs: Most federal tax dollars fund an array of social programs that include Social Security, Medicare, veterans benefits, education, health and income security. Taken together, that costs about $4.6 trillion (66% of the budget). About 13% ($907.7 billion) will go to defense, 13% ($888.6 billion) will repay net interest on government debt, and 10% ($726.9 billion) will fund everything else, like energy, transportation and agriculture.
E-filing: At least 94% of individual filings are expected to be filed electronically. That’s up from 52% in 2005. For years, Americans rushed to post offices to beat the clock on the tax deadline. Now people do so from a computer, smartphone or tablet screen.
Unpopular: Slightly more than half of Americans (51%) have an unfavorable view of the IRS, while 42% have a favorable view. The partisan divide is stark, with only 29% of Republicans with favorable views, compared to 53% of Democrats.
Those perspectives are likely clouded by opinions on taxation itself, though the IRS — and the Oklahoma Tax Commission — doesn’t determine the tax rates or how taxpayer dollars are spent.
This seems an unfair characterization. Tax agencies are the enforcement arms of what lawmakers decided, not unlike police agencies. If they are under-resourced, then it becomes easier for those with means to escape paying their fair share.
Oklahoma gets a good amount back from the U.S. government, ranking 23rd among federal dependency, according to WalletHub’s analysis of federal taxes paid by state, share of federal jobs and federal funding as a share of state revenue. A Money Geek review puts the state at 20th.
Taxes fund our communities in public infrastructure and essential services. Americans fought for representation in taxation, so it’s a responsibility to pay our portion.
If you don’t like the tax rate or spending choices, that’s why we have elections. Never underestimate the power of a ballot. Plus, our taxes pay for those elections.