Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.
—Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy, 1789
I remember my dad talking about working for ten cents an hour. The least I ever worked for was 75 cents a hour. I used to wonder how anyone lived on ten cents an hour? As I get older I understand the cost of living. When dad and mom were first married, eggs were a penny a piece if you had to buy them. A new car was $500.
When we got married eggs were 35 cents a dozen and bread was 15 cents a loaf. A new Chevy was about $1900. in 1956 we earned about $1100 and paid about $56 federal taxes and $20 NC state tax.
Funny, I never thought how long taxes have been around, but remember in the time of Christ, Mary and Joseph paid taxes. Then we had this little problem of taxes to the King of England in the colonies, and we fussed about taxation without representation.
Sherry and I are residents of Florida. We spend about six months a year there most years. We own property in North Carolina. The last house we bought we paid $55,000 for it. Our county just appraised it for over $100K, I complained and they must have laughed and said your argument does not hold water, you will pay tax on $100K+.
I must smile, I think, the tax on this house alone is over half of our income when we got married. That is just property tax.
I smiled(?) also as a young man when the county sent me a form to fill out. I had to list the # of cows, horses we had. vehicles and how much the furniture was worth. Cars and trailers and tractors, etc. They covered everything including clothes. As a 18year old husband, I learned about taxes. We did not own a tractor, cow nor horse. Total furniture was probably worth $10. (LOL) We did own a wrecked 1950 Chevrolet.
My son Mark once told me, “I’m not paying any taxes, none of the boys on the hill pay taxes.”
I tried to explain to him the ‘boys on the hill’ (bums and druggies) did not own anything, but you own a TR6, if you do not pay taxes on it, they WILL COME AND GET IT.
It is no joke, Benjamin Franklin was right about death and taxes!
Nite Shipslog
PS: IMO very few Americans would mind paying their fair share if the money was spent in a reasonable fashion.
Does your county and state require taxes?
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<V>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
1956, the year we got married NEW CARS
We could not afford any of these cars.
+018.jpg)
+040aa_edited-1.jpg)
9 comments:
Nowadays I think it is easier for them to find you too if you don't pay taxes. I see the necessity for taxes, I just wish everyone would pay their fair share.
betty
I pay county, city, and school tax on my house. The value of my house has gone up a lot too.
Here in Georgia we have state income tax as well as federal income tax. Property taxes and sales taxes continue to rise here, too.
Several years ago, we had timber cut. Imagine our surprise when we got a bill for "timber tax ".
Sigh.....
That is a conservation I do not like
Taxes..We have to pay to live. Also
taxes on food, clothes and anything
we buy..I guess we just have to
keep the government going...
It is a fact of life you must comply with. Unfortunately here locally there are always a half a dozen new levies on the ballot each year to increase ours even more.
Isn’t perspective a crazy thing?
It doesn’t seem that long ago I was lured away from a nice job with a promise of $5/hour!
I remembered Texas not having a state tax, but had to consult my friends at Google for the remaining 6 states. I wonder if that doesn't account for the high percentage of folks in Wyoming who love where they live?
PS - For a moment there, when you and Mark were talking about the "boys on the hill" not paying taxes I thought he was talking about Capital Hill! (Not such a reach, is it?)
I love paying taxes. That means I'm generating income. I have the good fortune to ride on the roads, and check out books from the library.
I can call the police and though they may be slow, they come (unless they're coming for me for not paying my taxes and then they would come quickly.)
I think I complain too much, but in the scheme of things, we live in an incredible place. It's not perfect, and there are too many people looking for a free ride, but I still think it's a gift to live here.
Call me shallow, but that's what I believe :)
Yes, taxes and death will always be there for sure for all of us. I guess there are a few that think they can beat the odds but in the end it will all catch up with them. We have state, federal, city, county and property tax to pay here in my part of the world. Times sure have changed and everything has gone up considerably but I think it's all relative. When we got married my job paid 1.00 an hour and I was making 25 cents more than my husband was. Ha ! Of course that soon changed. Nothing ever stays the same except for death and taxes.
We all have to pay taxes and can't get away from it.
My property tax has also increased. It goes buy how much the recent house was sold in your community in my condo area.
Post a Comment