Goines On: Death and taxes

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About an hour before the 6 a.m. alarm sounded, Goines was already awake and thinking about the fiasco with TurboTax the day before. Unlike last year’s fiasco, he had received this year’s 20%-off postcard in time, but when he got to the final step for submitting the income tax returns, TurboTax provided no option to specify the offer’s “service code,” but went ahead and charged the entire fee to his credit card.
    Goines immediately called TurboTax support and after several frustrating go-arounds with their superficially intelligent “chat” assistant, who seemed unable to comprehend Goines’ demand to “speak to a person,” he was at last transferred to a person – a young-sounding male.

Tax Bill December 2017

By Bellator Senex

I had my first job when I was eleven years old. I set pins at a blowing alley on Harlingen Air Force Base, in Texas. Even though I made little to nothing, my employer took out for Medicare and Social Security. From that day, until I retired from business about five years ago, I paid into those government programs.

"Class warfare" seems to have survived the Old Year

One of my born-again, Bush-approving cousins sent me a newspaper letter to the editor by a guy out in Oregon who says he has a job, gets paid, pays his taxes, "and the government distributes my taxes as they see fit." He doesn't say what his job is, but:

In order for me to get that paycheck, I am required to pass a random urine test, which I have no problem with.

What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test. Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check, because I have to pass one to go earn it for them?

My cousin asked,

Pretty good idea, don’t you think???

I replied:

You mean, because the guy works in a nuclear reactor or somewhere and has to undergo random drug tests, everyone who receives the benefit of taxes should also undergo them? Well, YOU receive the benefit of taxes. Do you think YOU should undergo random drug tests? <smile>

She replied:

The point is not for "all who receive the benefit of taxes," just for the welfare/drug addict bunch who could get a job but won't.

Have a Happy New Year.

I replied:

Ah, right, they are a worthless lot.

But I think that maybe I should have said that we all need someone who we're not and are a lot better than. That may be the common demoninator of all class warfare, even the "warfare" of most of We the People's wanting the superwealthy to pay more in taxes. After all, do they think they're better than Us just because they have a million times more money than we do?