I hate taxes as much as the next guy. Actually, I think I hate them MORE than the next guy.
I'm self-employed so I'm one of the few in America who actually have to write a check to the government rather than just having taxes witheld from a paycheck. So I know how much I pay, I feel the pain of writing those checks and that money is literally coming right out of my own pocket.
This is true of paycheck earners, but psychologically, it doesn't seem as painful to never have gotten that extra money in your hand in the first place. I think if we did away with withholding and made everyone write a check to the government to pay their taxes, people would realize how much of their income is stolen by the government and we'd have a tax revolt that would cut the government in half.
In fact, one of the key reasons I AM self-employed is that it allows me to keep more of my income due to legal, government-granted tax write-offs. And my life is far more confusing and complex because of trying to navigate the tax laws and regulations involved in legally keeping more of my own money. I pay an accountant to help me keep it all straight and that is a investment I pay in order to save more than that expense in reduced taxes. If you learn and follow the government rules, you get to keep more of your money but it makes your life more complex.
I also selected Wyoming as my home state because of its low tax rates. We were able to live anywhere in the United States and consciously decided to keep 7-12% more of our income by moving to a state with no state income tax and a low sales tax. So you see that I have adapted a large portion of my life just to reduce taxes and keep more of my own money. This decision is reinforced by the 10,000+ trolley tour passengers we serve each summer who are absolutely amazed at how low our taxes are here in Cody compared to the rest of the country. So we are already fortunate to at least have the lowest, high taxes.
I voted for the jail CAP tax too. And I ordered our new trolley to arrive BEFORE that tax was implemented. And wouldn't you know it that the manufacturing was delayed and the trolley arrived AFTER the extra 1% sales tax was in effect? That little delay cost us more than $1,000 when we went to register our $100,000+ vehicle. Mike & Margie Johnson paid for more than a few plumbing fixtures at that new jail.
But nevertheless, I am going to vote for the CAP tax again. I want the library. Education is the way to wealth and wealth determines how many choices you have in life. Thanks to excessive taxes, the American family is falling apart. Both parents have to work full-time to maintain any sort of standard of living (When there even ARE two parents in the household). And because everyone is working so hard, no one has time to monitor what the local, state and federal governments are doing. So they pass stupid laws to protect people who are too stupid to run their own lives, accept bribes for favors and vote themselves raises and levy new taxes. The cycle repeats and because it is unchecked by citizen supervision, gains speed. We are all actually slaves giving half our money to a government that uses our own money to make our lives more difficult.
So you see I hate taxes.
But I'm voting for this one. Mainly because it is temporary and mainly because tourists will pay a large part of it and state grants (I know, this is our money too) will pay a large part of it and because I want that library so people can use it to educate themselves on how to break free from the economic oppression that comes from high taxes and low education. In this age, if you are not a life-long learner, you're going to be left way behind. The more people who educate themselves to increase their wealth and learn what's happening in this country, the more chance we have to lower the tax burden for us all.
Of course these people I want educated will need some ambition, self-discipline and passion to make their lives better. But that's another column.
Finally, I want to be able to access newer books without having to buy them. The current library has a pretty sparse collection. I don't need the computers but I know many residents do. And since I live across the street from the new library location, I'll enjoy the convenience factor.
So I say hold your nose, vote for the tax and get it over with. It's a small fee, it's only in place for a limited time, it is targeted to the top needs of three communities and its passage gets us millions in matching grants. All in all, if you have to have a tax, this is the best possible scenario.
Now, if we could only get our federal taxes set up this way.