SPECIAL COMMENTARY: THE REAL MEANING OF TAXES

Rochester, N.Y.-- Last week, like millions of other Americans, public workers filed our income tax while the media told us stories about how the most wealthy corporations in the U.S. actually get refunds from the American people. That got us thinking. Even though that just ain't right-- what's more depressing is the American people have forgot why we tax ourselves in the first place.

The media was speaking in quantities of billions and trillions-- it's hard for the average guy to wrap their mind around those numbers. They mention loop-holes and lament how complicated the tax structure is. They feature high-profile spokespeople for whom tax season is the perfect opportunity to fan the anti-tax and anti-government flames.

TEA PARTY DOESN'T GET IT
photo:  SeattleTimes.com

In most of this coverage, Americans are cast as victims. We are taxpayers bearing up under the obligation to pay into federal and state coffers. Some are stoic in the face of the inevitability of “death and taxes,” while others burn with resentment like the Tea Party folks.  We dread the task of hauling out that folder of receipts and calculating just how much of our income we have to hand over to Uncle Sam.

All of these stories reflect aspects of tax season reality for Americans. What is missing from this picture is any sense of a larger meaning in the act of paying taxes. Most other things that require effort and sacrifice-- family, service, charity, and volunteerism-- have virtuous, or at least redeeming, meaning associated with them. That meaning helps us face life’s challenges with a sense of a larger purpose that makes these acts worth the investment.

The stories we tell about tax day reflect a chronic disconnection from our role as citizens; they are devoid of any civic meaning. The real meaning of taxes pay for the things that underpin our public life and connect us to one another through our communities, our states and our country.

When we lose sight of this, taxes are seen as merely depriving us of our individual property. If, on the other hand, we see ourselves as stewards of a common good, as citizen managers of public systems and structures that secure the city, state and country we live in, then taxes are our contribution to something important that is bigger than we are.

We all need to be telling a new and meaningful story about tax day that celebrates the concrete opportunity it offers “we the people.”  The problem is, without the public systems and structures that taxes pay for, the America we know and love would cease to exist.

No matter what kind of place we call home-- rural, city, suburb-- our aspirations and expectations are inextricably linked with the public systems that provide for our quality of life. The basics of what we need to raise our families and to run successful businesses are now so ingrained in our daily lives that we take their existence for granted.

FEDERATION OF SOCIAL WORKERS PROTECT FAMILIES
Members of the Rochester area FSW march in front of the Monroe County Office
Building in downtown Rochester, N.Y. on August 10, 2010 to tell our community
that our tax dollars are well spent.  photo:  Ove Overmyer

When we turn on our faucets, drinkable water flows. When we buy meat at the supermarket, it doesn’t make us sick. When we drive down the road, it doesn’t collapse under us. When we sit on a jury, we can free the innocent and put the bad guys away. When we send our kids to the public library or school, we know there’ll be librarians, teachers, textbooks and computers so they can learn. When we put our money in the bank, we know it’ll be there when we need it.

Things work here. But, as certain as we are that things should be this way, we forget. We forget that environmental protections and fire stations, that library and public school standards, that clean air and safe drinking water, that banking regulations and Social Security checks-- are all only possible because we, as Americans, have chosen to create these governmental structures and systems. And we have chosen to pool our resources to pay for them. We have chosen to do together what we cannot do alone. That is America's identity. That is the kind of America we should remember and be proud to be a part of.

-This commentary was authored by your average tax-paying public employee and does not reflect the view of CSEA as an organization.