Government Adds Fees Because Taxes Are Not Enough
by Big Dog on Apr 12, 2009 at 17:13 Political
Government is a scurvy little spider that eats at the fabric of society. Originally designed to be ruled by those governed, government has turned into a monster that has an ever increasing appetite for money and devises more creative ways in which to get it. All the ways they come up with screw those governed.
Those of us who pay taxes figure they go for essential services such as Fire and Police services. Well, our taxes pay for that protection and it includes protecting those who pay NO taxes. Now some places are charging fees when emergency personnel must respond.
After her sport utility vehicle sideswiped a van in early February, Shirley Kimel was amazed at how quickly a handful of police officers and firefighters in Winter Haven, Fla., showed up. But a real shock came a week later, when a letter arrived from the city billing her $316 for the cost of responding to the accident.
“I remember thinking, ‘What the heck is this?’ ” says Ms. Kimel, 67, an office manager at a furniture store. “I always thought this sort of thing was covered by my taxes.”
It used to be. But last July, Winter Haven became one of a few dozen cities in the country to start charging “accident response fees.” The idea is to shift the expense of tending to and cleaning up crashes directly to at-fault drivers. Either they, or their insurers, are expected to pay. NYT (via MSNBC)
Why should people pay this fee? Their taxes cover emergency response. If a person cannot afford this or if insurance pays it, will the increase in insurance rates cause a problem? I have heard that some fire stations in Baltimore are closing or consolidating because of budget problems. I always hear the outcry and demand for more taxes. Screw them, I have no sympathy for communities where fire stations close. I don’t care if cops have to start walking instead of riding and if people die because there are no paramedic services then it is not my problem. I don’t want to pay any more.
The article cites other sources of revenue like adding a surcharge to electric bills to pay for streetlights. Does this mean that people can demand they be turned off and not have to pay? What about people who live in areas where there are no streetlights? Will they be forced to pay so someone else has light outside his home?
There are fees tacked on to hunting licenses, professional licenses, number of livestock slaughtered, vehicle registration, driver’s license renewal, and any number of other things that some creative bureaucrat can come up with in order to make people pay more money.
We continue to get socked with fees and tax increases because government is inefficient and cannot control spending. And yes, there are tax increases. They hail $13 dollars more in paychecks and say it is a tax cut ignoring the fact that getting it back does not mean your taxes are lower. What will taxes look like when we file them and how will the tax tables be configured? They charge one fee after another in order to raise revenue while claiming to lower taxes on the poor.
It is the poor who pay the increase in cigarette taxes and those who mindlessly claim that smoking is a choice ignore two important things. One is that while it is a choice it is an addictive habit stronger than addiction to heroin and the success rate for people quitting is very low. Also, the taxes are to pay for children’s health care. If people quit then that money would have to come from some place else and that would be an increase in taxes. Government depends on the low success rate of tobacco cessation in order to make money.
The poor are hurt by the increase in insurance rates because of accident response fees. The poor are affected most by increases in licensing fees and other harassing fees imposed by government.
The bad part is the people affected most by these things are the ones who keep putting tax hungry Democrats in office. There are people in Baltimore who have had their electricity turned off for failure to pay the bill (bills that are higher because of government intervention in the market). Most cry that it is their right to have electricity and demand the bills be forgiven so they can have heat and light. There is a fund for these kinds of people and many of us use to donate to it to help people out.
No more. I don’t care if their electricity is turned off. I don’t care if they are cold or it is dark. I don’t care if they have no way to heat their food because they are getting what they asked for. They can sit in the dark and freeze to death while eating cold cat food. I do not care.
This is the kind of pain that they need to either wake up or die off and in either case it will be better for society as a whole.
I am tired of paying for the education of someone else’s kid. I am tired of paying for the health care of others. I am tired of being forced to support people in society who are not supporting themselves and I am tired of paying more in fees so that more services can be offered.
To hell with them.
I have stopped giving to some charities because of what and who they support. I have stopped doing things that will cost me any fees if I can avoid it and I have no intention of “helping” out as the many letters I get ask of me.
40% of wage earners pay no taxes and a ton of people do not work and receive benefits of those who do pay taxes. The upper bands of wage earners pay way too much in taxes and support most of the rest. It is a crime to make the to 20% pay for nearly everyone else.
People need to start paying their fair share and government needs to stop with all the fees. One day the working class will stand up and say enough is enough.
April 15th is tax day and the day of TEA parties. They are scorned by the liberal establishment of Kool Aid drinkers who see only benefits in anti war protests.
I have another idea for April 15th. Every person should avoid spending money in any store. Do not buy food, gas, or any other item. Get it all the day before. Let the country see what it would be like if we all stopped participating for just one day.
The only fee I want to pay is a green’s fee.
Is that too much to ask?
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Tags: blood suckers, crime, Democrats, fees, government, liberals, poor, taxes, tea party
O’bama states that he will lower taxes for 95% of the population, but he who gives ($13 a week) with one hand, takes with the other.
And to be fair, it’s not just O’bama, but every federal, state, and county office that can possibly get money, is charging bogus fees for anything they can.
I’m like you, Dog, I get tired of being nickeled and dimed to death with these stealth taxes.
In the state of Texas, Parks and Wildlife is raising the licensing fees about 5% overall. The problem comes with the state Legislature. P&W takes in 120- 145 million dollars a year in fees, but the Legislature only allows the P&W to use 30 million as it’s total budget, and now P&W is having to cannibalize their trucks to get parts to keep their fleet patched up, not to mention the upkeep of the parks themselves are in great disrepair. The rest of the money, instead of creating and maintaining the parklands, gets siphoned off to God knows where.
This is what I try to get across to people- government keeps raising the taxes as if we were serfs, paying the king’s taxes, but then these government people do not use the money for what it is supposed to be for.
Another case in point- the Texas Lottery said, in order to be voted in by the voters, that profits from the lottery would go to education, and solve all the budget shortfall problems. Oh no, not so- turns out that only 1% of the lottery profits have gone to education, but they have enough money to build themselves an atomic bomb- proof bunker 300 feet underground in the Austin area, because, after a good nuking, (as everybody knows), we will still be wanting to play the lotto. Oh yeah, that would be the first thing on my mind after being irradiated.
See, this is what the tea parties that some have scorned are all about, really. We the People are tired of paying tax after tax after tax, ad infinitum.
Just your income tax, if you are fortunate to have a job that pays well, is about 10- 17%, no matter what some say. That would be doable, but then the hidden taxes, like the gasoline tax, which is supposed to take care of the upkeep of our roads, the sin taxes, like for cigarettes, all of these become like a really bad horror film, The Death By A Thousand Tax Hikes.
All of those who say, regarding cigarettes, Quit- well, they have never smoked cigarettes. I have, for forty years, and when I began, the price was 25 cents. I tried everything, for thirty years to quit, but was only recently successful, so I know how hard it is.
I have had Heroin junkies tell me that quitting cigarettes is harder than quitting heroin, and I believe it, so you have a fairly captive tax base here, but Dog, you are right- if that base shrinks or disappears, who are they going to charge next? Perhaps soccer equipment? Private schools? Designer lattes? Who knows what the Next Big Thing might be, and the tea parties are to say, STOP IT! ENOUGH! Learn what a budget truly is- if you do not have the money, then SHUT UP with the yak, yak, yak, about how you are the Messiah, and you will change the world. JUST SHUT UP if you can’t walk the walk, damn well do not even think about talking the talk.
Let the banks fail or succeed, let the EOs and the Boards of Directors figure out what they have done wrong.
Allergies are up, because people over- protect their children from everything, so children do not buildup their immunities. Businesses are the same way, you have to allow them to fail or succeed. You cannot prop up a failing business model even if you are Hiz Immaculateness.
Pain is a wonderful teacher- it generally takes only one application to get the lesson across. But you have to allow both your children and your businesses to skin their knees, and bang themselves up. They will be hardier for it.
It always amazes me that the “progressives”, who believe that the Theory of Evolution is “settled science”, ignore the most settled part of the whole theory, that being the survival of the fittest, especially in regards to businesses. The same laws apply- the strong eat the weak, and if you try to stop this natural part of life, you are a hypocrite.
Nothing is too big to fail. Just ask the dinosaurs. The law of the jungle is adapt or die, and these institutions need the room to move, not be hemmed in artificially.
If they are allowed to do so, the survivors will emerge stronger than ever, and that is what is supposed to happen, not be artificially spliced to the hip of government. If that happens, neither will be able to move the way they should, and this will just be to the detriment of both.
Big Dog… not only that, but those few dollars extra a week that he so proudly put out as the way our stimulus money would be coming to us… well, He and the Dems came up with a way to make all the working folks pay for it! They just did the tax rate magic show and poof!!! 2009 tax season will be loaded with additional tax amounts, fees and penalties in order to pay for the 12 or so dollars extra on our paychecks. I have a post up about it based on an accountant’s comment I found on a forum. Check it out. If people don’t adjust their W-4s now, it will get ugly next tax season. I think it was a 4% increase on the tax rate and anyone making more that $30K per household will get screwed.
My post for anyone wanting to see it is here: http://hoosierarmymom.wordpress.com/2009/04/05/important-tax-information-to-be-aware-of/#comments
Someone has to buy more drugs for the crack heads you know. We may as well suck it up. That only the top 5% will see taxes increased is just another lie.
Obama has lied from day one, here is what Texas Governor Rick Perry said.
http://governor.state.tx.us:80/news/press-release/12227/
Gov. Perry Backs Resolution Affirming Texas’ Sovereignty Under 10th Amendment
HCR 50 Reiterates Texas’ Rights Over Powers Not Otherwise Granted to Federal Government
April 09, 2009
AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry today joined state Rep. Brandon Creighton and sponsors of House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 50 in support of states’ rights under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
“I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state,” Gov. Perry said. “That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm the states’ rights affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I believe that returning to the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution and its essential 10th Amendment will free our state from undue regulations, and ultimately strengthen our Union.”
A number of recent federal proposals are not within the scope of the federal government’s constitutionally designated powers and impede the states’ right to govern themselves. HCR 50 affirms that Texas claims sovereignty under the 10th Amendment over all powers not otherwise granted to the federal government.
It also designates that all compulsory federal legislation that requires states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties, or that requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding, be prohibited or repealed.
HCR 50 is authored by Representatives Brandon Creighton, Leo Berman, Bryan Hughes, Dan Gattis and Ryan Guillen.
To view the full text of the resolution, please visit:
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/billtext/html/HC00050I.htm.
I, too, am tired of the taxes and what the liberal government is doing; however, I cannot carry it as far as you all. Our Lord says when we give to others we are giving to Him and I can’t see someone go hungry when it isn’t always their fault. Yes, there are people who refuse to work, but if you use wisdom, you can still help those who really need it. What would Jesus do?