Today is tax day in the US. Like many others, I waited until the last possible moment to file and pay, because I knew I was going to get screwed. I electronically filed my taxes last night, but I will be mailing a big, fat check to the IRS today to cover the rest of what I owe. Actually, that’s not entirely true. I will be sending a big, fat check the IRS for what I can afford to pay of what I still owe. I will pay the rest next month. Here, then, are some random musings about tax day.

• We need tax reform. Either the Fair Tax or a flat tax. Either one would be preferable to what we have now.
• We need to abolish withholding and force everyone to either make quarterly estimated payments, or pay the full amount on April 15. People would suddenly realize how much they are getting screwed and would demand tax reform.
• If you ask someone, “How much did you have to pay in taxes this year?” and they respond with “Oh! I didn’t have to pay anything, I’m getting a refund!” you should immediately punch them in the face, because they are completely clueless about our tax system.
• These absurd “tea parties” that Republicans are throwing do nothing but make them look stupid. They won’t actually accomplish anything. Neither will mailing tea bags to your Congressmen.
• Our government is far too large, much larger than it is Constitutionally allowed to be. Massive program and spending cuts are needed to reduce the burden on taxpayers.
• “Progressive” tax systems, like what we have in the US, are not “progressive” at all. In fact, they are abusive to the high achievers. According to the Tax Foundation, the Top 1% of income earners, who account for 16.5% of income, pay 33.7% of the taxes. The bottom 50%, who account for 13.9% of income, pay only 3.6% of the taxes. How is that fair? It isn’t. Our tax system is designed to punish “the rich,” and it’s only going to get worse with Obama and friends in office.

Based on what we’re seeing with federal bailouts and calls for laws to limit executive compensation from Dear Leader, I don’t see things improving any time soon. In fact, I think it’s going to get a lot worse for “the rich” in this country. Obama and friends are fomenting class warfare like we’ve never seen before, enciting “working Americans” to hate “the rich.” That’s the typical Democrat line, but Obama’s charisma and his status as a hero to “working Americans” is giving his pronouncements about the “excesses” of “the rich” more power. Hang out on social networks like Twitter and Friendfeed and you’ll see that the pitchforks are already being sharpened.