Roses
are red,
Violets
are blue,
Taxes
are the price we pay for a civilized society,
So
“BOO-frickin-HOO.”
Most
personal income tax bills are lower – and tax refunds higher – than
last year, thanks to Obama’s first budget (that got not a single
Republican vote). And the tax rate we pay here is lower than in most other
First World nations. (Is there any other with lower taxes than ours?)
It’s
true, those of us fortunate enough to have high-paying jobs and/or significant
investment income will doubtless see our tax rates rise in the not distant
future. (So this is a good year to look
hard at converting some or all your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA.)
But
I’d guess most Americans will see their low tax rates unchanged, or
raised only very modestly; and that for high-income taxpayers, it will be not
so different from what it was in the – very prosperous –
Clinton/Gore era.
Man
up, for God’s sake. And consider the possibility that paying taxes
– or in this case, cashing your larger than usual refund check – is
even more patriotic than complaining that you shouldn’t have to. You
voted for Bush, you even reelected him, and thus you voted for the war in Iraq
and the giant tax cuts for the rich and the massive debt and deficits they left
us with. So now that it’s fiscal clean up time, grab a mop – not a
gun – and help out like everybody else.
(Warm
smile. I’m not really this tough – I would make a very bad drill
sergeant – and I’m not crazy about paying taxes either. But I mean
. . . really . . . did “the Greatest Generation” complain this much
about taxes?)
TAraWA
Until
this week I had not ever even heard of Tarawa. (Well, had you?)
And now in response to Tuesday’s post comes an
email from Roz Savage, who rowed there from San Francisco.
I
don’t know which I find more astounding: that I am communicating,
instantly, with a woman in a rowboat by an atoll in the middle of the Pacific .
. . or that she rowed there.
Roz
writes:
Planning to leave for Australia on Monday Tarawa time,
which is Sunday in the US. So still a few more chances to get some zzzz before
spending 100+ days alone in a tippy little rowboat!
Thanks for the publicity!!
Anyone is most welcome to use me as a spokesperson for
the environment. Hell, even the Republicans. Well, okay, maybe not. But
seriously, the environment should be at the top of EVERY political agenda.
If/when we completely screw up the world, the consequences will not discriminate
along party or country lines. Hopefully I speak as a passionately
concerned human, rather than as a Brit or a liberal or anything else.
We're all on this planet together, and we have to look after it if we
want it to look after us.
If you have 3 minutes, here's
my latest little video. It's a bit home-made (did it myself a couple of weeks
ago, and I'm no pro!) but hopefully it gets the message out there. My TED talk
should be going on YouTube soon as well, again with the message that every
action counts.
Okay, time to get back to boat stuff!
All best
Roz
Roz Savage
2006 Solo Atlantic from Canaries to Antigua
2008 Solo Pacific I from California to Hawaii
2009 Solo Pacific II from Hawaii to Kiribati
2010 Solo Pacific III from Kiribati to Australia
Twitter: rozsavage
Rowing
the Atlantic (Simon & Schuster, 2009)