This is a question I've thought about in great length around April 15th every year.
Let me reframe this by posing some similar questions:
"Does paying you fair share of taxes make you more patriotic?"
"Does tithing correctly make you a more responsible church member?"
"Does paying your membership dues in full and on time make you better group member?"
"Does paying your rent on time make you better tenant?"
Some interesting thoughts may arise when we put these ideas questions together. How are these similar and how are these different? Here's some thoughts why I would answer in the affirmative to all of these questions.
Taxes are an Investment
What is the greatest investment we, as taxpayers, are making and benefiting from every day? The answer: Roads. Roads are the very reason why the "I made my money through my own hard work and no one is taking it from me" argument is moot. Roads and other infrastructure are the back bone of the American economy. Every time someone gets rich by selling a product think about roads for starters. Let's say I invented a fantastic new product. How did the raw materials get to a factory? How did the building materials for a factory get to the site? How do the workers at my factory get to work? How did the product get to retail sites in order from them to be sold? How did your consumers reach said retail site to purchase your product? How do banks move large amounts of cash (including cash from the sale of your product) from major retailers to their banks? When I put up a sign on the side of a busy freeway advertising my product, why are drivers even there? And when I get filthy rich, where am I going to drive my new Ferrari?
People get rich now by standing on the infrastructure of tax dollars invested now and one hundred years ago. We can go further into the infrastructure. Who protects the shipments from pirates on the high seas and bandits on the roads so my products make it safely across the country? And my shout out to FedEx because large retail and commercial shippers realize how much taxpayer money it takes to help them do what they do. If my factory catches on fire, how does the fire get put out? What if Canada decides to get cute and invade Minnesota? Who will protect may factory outside of Milwaukee?
Again, taxes are investments we make in order to protect the well-being in our society.
So the argument is "You know how to spend your money better than the government." I would submit that this isn't true in a great many cases. It goes back to roads. Fast-forward to a no tax American. Can you and your neighbors decide how to pool your money in order to build a road from your neighborhood to the local grocery store? What if there's potholes in the road? Which of you is going to make sure people drive safely on this road? When we get our tax cut, are we going to spend it on training doctors and scientists and build them hospitals and laboratories? Are we going to take that tax cut and pay for our local schools and universities? Is your tax cut going to be enough to pay your fair share of your children's teacher's salaries and training necessary to make those teachers competent?
Everyone pays their fair share
The truth is a tax free American would never happen. Why? Someone has to pay for all those things and I submit it should be the people who have benefited from it the most. Why do working class, middle class and even affluent Americans have one tax code and Halliburton have another? Thoughts? Big corporations would love it if continued to pay their way for them. They have teams of lawyers looking for ways to lower what they pay and that's if they are even "based" in America. They want working class through affluent Americans to pick up the tab. There wouldn't need to be an estate tax if corporations paid their fair share. Or a sales tax. Or a tax on retirement funds. Social Security would be solvent forever if we raised the income cap.
Finally, paying taxes is patriotic
Investing in our community is quite possibly the most patriotic thing we can do. Maintaining our infrastructure so that your fellow Americans can have the same opportunity that you had is patriotic. There would be no American patriotism if there were no American community. Taxpayers guarantee the worth of the dollars in your wallet, the strength of the roads you drive on, the security symbolized in our nation's firefighters and police officers, and the protection of our oldest and youngest citizens. Taxpayers do so much for the American community. When you achieve so much and realize that you did so through your own hard work and the hard work of the community that surrounds you, that is patriotic. To throw your hands up and say "that's it, I'm done paying taxes," after you've used the resources that this community has invested in, is not.
Something related to think about
Tax is a wedge issue. Republican strategists know that if they put ballot measures effecting tax rates on with their candidates, it will get out certain groups of voters. That's why there are measures about gay marriage, abortion, and teaching creationism in public schools. Not because these strategists care about these issues; Karl Rove himself said he uses socially conservative issues only to drive out the base. Issues he could care less about.
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Infastructure, firemen, police, roads, etc. We pay property taxes, sales tax and oh when we sell our home we pay excise tax, gas tax..these are taxes that are daily in our lives to have all the above and more. Then there is the income tax, social security tax and medicare tax, in some states there is also state tax. Many of us pay taxes for things we don't even believe in, but because the majority may we still have to support it there is no choice. Many of these tax dollars fund ridiculous items like seeing how long it takes for ketchup to run down your plate! Yes we need to protect ourselves, fund our military. But do we really need all these social programs...I think not. Then there is estate tax, which the person already probably paid taxes on that money and the inheritance is taxed again. Then we also have capital gain tax.....I see none of this as patriotic,,,,I do ask when will it end....I do believe it is a bit overdone for sure and we pay more than our fair share and not spent wisely. Can you imagine what can be accomplished if we were not overtaxed. Could it be that if we were able to keep our own money in our pocket that we could contribute or even start our own organizations to help those in need, the homeless, human trafficking, AIDS, those in need due to natural disasters. I think the possibilities could be endless and in that scenario it would seem to me to be much more patriotic!!
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