On my pay-stub: Federal Taxes Withheld $597; State Taxes Withheld $145; Kaiser $959 emp. + $352 dist. Taxes are the price we pay to live in a civil society. Fear, violence, crime, and ignorance are also taxes. Losing a home to medical bills is a tax. Going to school with poor vision or tooth aches is a tax. These are taxes of a different nature: they diminish both society and the individual.
I remember being struck by the categories on my German pay slip: in the upper-left corner was how much my position cost my employer. In the lower-right corner was my take-home pay. Somewhere in between were three slightly different numbers: income for tax purposes; income for pension purposes; income for unemployment-insurance purposes! And I thought, hey, it's all bookkeeping; what really matters is the number on the lower left!
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