ARE YOU WILLING TO PAY TAXES

If you are fair, your fellow human beings will accept your judgments. This not only applies to individual interaction but also applies to governance.  If the government imposes a tax, people will pay it without objection, if they feel the tax is fair. Of course, what each one considers fair may be different but the principle still holds; it almost seems innate. Consequently, each person responds differently according to their needs and wants but generally the “fairness doctrine” hold. It may be manifested in strange ways within the extreme diversity of human behavior.  

Recently a New York man died in the hands of several police officers; actually choked him to death. The man was black and the police were all white, including the one who actually did the choking. This provoked a tremendous reaction in the press. The reaction was so heated, loud, and vocal that the “back story” was all but lost. That story was that he was caught selling packages of cigarettes on the streets. A first blush, this makes no sense at all; anyone who chooses to can freely walk in to many, man stores and by as many cigarettes as they want; the difference is in the price, which can substantial. Cigarette tax is easily regulated because in a “legitimate” store, the packages and cartons of cigarettes have “official” tax seals; meaning the vender has paid federal, state, and local taxes on that product while in the street the seal is missing.

Illegal buying, transportation, and marketing of cigarettes from low tax states to high tax states is as common and well organized as narcotic sales. The higher the taxes the greater the incentive, because the greater the profit is. It is a balance between legality and profit; it is not worth it for few cents on a package. North Carolina is a tobacco producing state; accumulative taxes on cigarettes are low. Recently, the price of cigarettes in Kentucky fell to the  lowest in the nation at $4.96 in contrast, the cost of a pack of cigarettes in  New York is $14.56; a profit of almost $10,00 per pack or $100 dollars a carton. In days gone by, from time to time, we see small cubical shaped trailers on the streets of Raleigh, NC, a city near Highway 95, a direct route to New York a high cigarette tax state; these are “cigarette” trailers; cigarettes now cost $6,03 a pack in North Carolina.  

My point in this blog is that people are willing to pay cigarette taxes to satisfy their nicotine addiction but once the tax burden exceeds some level, people will buy cigarettes sold by illegal venders. The alternative is to stop smoking. So, the question is, how much are people willing to pay for taxes before they resort to illegal activity. It is my contention that this is a figure that we can ascertain for government as well as some product. I use the cigarette example, but I feel the same principle applies to all taxes; however, what is difficult to understand is the “addiction” profit has on some people; echoed in the adage; “he or she will do anything for a buck.” This addiction, the addiction for profit sometimes seems to exceed the addiction of nicotine or cocaine, etc.

It is my belief that people would be willing to pay taxes if they feel the taxes are fair; this includes small business as well as corporations; they need roads, police and fire protection, government regulations, public schools etc. Unfortunately, when it comes to taxes, there seems to be a mitigating factor. We have a well-financed campaign dedicated to growing “hate for the government”. Their addiction to profits is actively driving the idea that taxes on industry or corporations are too high; we hear it everyday on TV, read it in the papers, and talk about it in everyday conversation.  The man-on-the-street doesn’t seem to realize the same people who are promoting this kind of thinking are shifting the cost of government to the backs of workers; at least the government they can not destroy. Who are these people? The Koch brothers and venture capitalist like Mitt Romney are good examples. On the other side of the line are arguably George Soros, Bill Gates, and most famously, Warren Buffett, along with most Americans. We are willing to pay taxes; the question is how much? 

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