Our Catastrophic Tax System

I once prepared taxes for two months for one of those nation-wide tax services. I ran across some pretty funny stuff, such as the guy who asked, “So you’re going to fax my check to me?” My first impulse was to say, “We’ll do even better – we’ll fax you the cash.” But I didn’t.

Most of the people were okay, but for the most part they just weren't too bright. I got the feeling I was in the movie, Idiocracy.

And Pareto was right - it was about 80% of them who were rather dim (that means only 20% of people have any brains). Many of them had an entitlement mentality, fostered by their own inherent envy, stirred up by the government. It’s amazing how little most people make. As a result, they not only don’t pay any taxes, they get free money from the government – four thousand, five thousand, six thousand dollars. It’s completely free money transferred to them from taxpayers via the government.

They didn't see it that way. And some of them complained, “Last year I/we got $5000! So why is my/our refund this year only $4000?” Because you made more money this year, or you’re not claiming all three of your kids as dependents this year, or this, or this, or this, or that. I had to explain it to them because their mentality was, um, limited.

It wasn't terribly hard to manipulate them, because if it wasn't my temper would have gotten really short. “Look at it this way,” I wanted to tell them. “You sat here for an hour, and you made $4000. That’s $4000 an hour. If you do that every hour you could work one day a year and take the other 364 days off.” If it penetrated, I bet their beady little eyes would have it lit up.

One woman burst into tears in front of me. Her husband-to-be was with her. She was expecting about $7000 back and got only $4000, after paying in about $1000. She wanted the extra money to make an expensive trip to Hawaii or some similar place, for her wedding, but now could no longer afford it. I kept the poker face, but I thought, are you kidding me?

And when it came to claiming kids for those divorced, Christ! It's based on how many months each parent kept the kid. That's why these places have computer programs. Otherwise it's too complicated for the average person. Hell, it's too complicated for smart people.

I was also surprised how some people were grossly overpaid for doing little. They must have had an in with someone. I remember one guy who has "head of security" and making $100,000 a year. Now if he was head of computer security I would understand it, but he wasn't.

Whatever happened to supply and demand? It's now gotten to the point were either people make a lot of money and for the most part don't do anything, or work a lot and make very little. I saw very few people I would call "middle class." It appears to be shrinking rapidly.

Just about the only people I’ve saw pay taxes are when they made $60,000 a year or more. One steelworker made over $100,000 in one year, by working a lot of overtime every week. The federal government withheld over $30,000 from him (for which he was paid no interest) and got back only $10,000. That $20,000 went to pay for the entitlement-minded mooches.

Every time the government gets involved in something, it screws it up. I am a certified CNA and am trained in physical therapy – which took a week. I no longer work in the field, because a lot of nursing homes are pits and the management should be in prison. Many CNAs start at about $10 an hour, sometimes less.

I did taxes for a woman who has a degree in Occupational Therapy, which is similar to physical therapy. Every nursing home by law has to have a little room for occupational therapy, which essentially means entertaining the people, putting together puzzles and other things that takes no training at all. I call it Arts & Crafts. But only this woman can do those things because she has a degree.

The one time I did her taxes she made $144,000, doing something that can be learned in one week. But the law requires that degree. And the money paid to nursing homes – and therefore her – comes from the government, meaning the taxpayers. It’s not like any nursing home produces anything and adds to the economy. All of them are essentially parasites on the taxpayers – and most of them are warehouses for their residents. I despise most of them and think most of them should be bulldozed.

CNA -- $10 an hour. Occupational therapist doing the same work – over $100,000 a year. The difference? The government interfering in the market and requiring degrees that tremendously reduce the supply.

The occupational therapist who made over $100,000 a year was married to a truck driver who made $15,000 last year, So he was going to school to try to make more money. I’m sure she wanted to work less hours, since she was driving over 60,000 miles a year traveling all over the state from nursing home to nursing home. They told me they went through one used car a year.

I kept my mouth shut and didn’t tell him he would never make the kind of money did, because Affirmative Action means “White Men Need Not Apply.” I didn’t bother to ask what he was studying, but it didn’t matter. Even if he got the same degree as her he would never make the same money as her. They’ll find out.

Our tax system is a catastrophe. People who work their butts off to make a decent living – which these days means 50 hours a week – are having their lifeblood sucked out to support mooches who think they deserve to get “government” money. Sooner or later it’s all going to collapse. And the sooner the better.