Pay Your Fair Share

It’s tax day here in the US, which means we have the opportunity to pay our fair share. It can be frustrating, infuriating, messy, and keep us on pins and needles until we know whether we owe, break even, or will receive a refund. There is talk amongst our government of simplifying our tax structure…let’s hope that is more than just talk.

We live in a country where we have freedoms galore. We can do and say anything we want without fear of incarceration. In order to be able to do that, someone has to foot the bill. That means we all pay our fair share in order to afford our freedom. Some people are better than others at working the system and understanding how to pay less. I once had a very wealthy person tell me that you know you are doing something when your taxes are complicated. The messy returns are the ones that leverage all sorts of aspects of money.

Other countries have much higher taxes than the US; and many of those countries are going broke. So it seems that no one’s method of taxing and contributing to the costs of maintaining a government works perfectly. Today is our reminder that in order to be free we have to contribute to the process, which for this annual tax deadline reminds us how the process works. We may not like everything about it, so until it changes we have to live up to this deadline. It is our obligation to pay our fair share.

So as you see the impact on your checkbook after this annual event, be sure to remind yourself that freedom isn’t free and we are blessed to be able to contribute.