The Thing About Taxes

I will preface this by saying I am not well-researched in the areas of politics, national financing, or whatever actually goes into this mess, in the United States or elsewhere.

But I think it might be worth mentioning my thoughts on a few things, based on personal experiences, and some things I’ve heard that just… don’t make a lot of sense.

Taxes aren’t inherently bad.

The word “tax” in itself has come to have largely negative connotations–if you’re being “taxed” by something, you’re being weighed down or put upon. We have classic examples of people, like the Sheriff of Nottingham from the Robin Hood stories, who abuse taxes.

In a truly ironic state of affairs, my dad is adamantly against any kind of raise in taxes, but he also works for the state of Minnesota, and part of our taxes are what pay his own wages.

But if taxes are being abused, for things like… oh, say, a giant wall, or a football stadium… then, yeah, I wholeheartedly understand the aversion.

I don’t think anyone is ever entirely sure what taxes are used for, but there’s obviously some mismanagement going on somewhere, and that’s the bad thing. Taxes themselves? They have some truly positive possibilities.

Let’s just, for the sake of imagination, pretend that a perfect world is possible. What should taxes, in a perfect world (and my opinion) be used for?

• Protecting/conserving the environment
• Researching and developing important new innovations in energy, transportation, and health (cure for cancer, anyone?)
• Providing/maintaining a basic standard of health and well-being for everyone
• Paying first responders, health professionals, and peace-keepers
• Educating people well
• Preserving culture by investing in arts, museums, libraries, archives, and community centers
• Community improvements, like road construction, parks & rec, etc.
• Providing some kind of safety net and/or rehabilitation programs for those who are  out of work and/or homeless. (This would include retirement, and being out of work due to an injury, veteran benefits, and other things of that nature, in addition to being in a bad situation for other reasons.)

Some people are really put out by the thought of providing for others. Which… I get, to some extent. At the moment, it’s hard to fathom providing for myself, let alone anyone else in the country–but that’s because a lot of things in “the system” are broken. They’re not being used the way they should.

If I had the peace of mind that came with guaranteed good health, the basic ability to learn the things I need to know without being in debt for the foreseeable future, and the reassurance that life as we know it wasn’t on its way to being toasted out of the Earth like a bad virus, I would happily give away a third or more of my income for the rest of my life.

In a perfect world, what would your taxes be used for?

What would you be willing to provide, to make your own life and the lives of others easier?

#Equality

In keeping with my theme about economical issues that affect myself and my fellow classmates, among countless others, I want to discuss in further detail the issue of the inequality gap.

Last time I discussed that the raising of the minimum wage to $15/hour will not bridge the inequality gap, but may cause it to widen.  It is still my stance that this is not the solution.  Now I want to address the problem itself.

“The development charity Oxfam has called for action to tackle the growing gap between rich and poor as it launched a new report showing that 42 people hold as much wealth as the 3.7 billion who make up the poorest half of the world’s population.”

https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2018/jan/22/inequality-gap-widens-as-42-people-hold-same-wealth-as-37bn-poorest

Not only that, 82% of the global wealth generated last year went to the wealthiest 1%.

To put this even more into perspective, 8 billionaires currently hold the same wealth as the poorest half of the world’s population.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/jan/16/worlds-eight-richest-people-have-same-wealth-as-poorest-50

Some will argue that free markets have helped over 100 million people rise out of poverty in the last year, and while this may be true, when we are talking globally, and this still is not enough.

In this week’s reading; Communication for Another Development, Quarry and Ramirez state, “We have come to believe that it is not communication that makes good development but good development that contains good communication.”

We need to do more, and we need to urge our governments to address this income gap.

OXFAM: “The power of people against poverty.”  Please go to https://www.oxfam.org to read more about the cause and the efforts to end inequality.

Cyborg Nation

For some time, the focus of education has been squarely on collecting the skills required to obtain a job. I think that this lacks vision and is dismally underserving society. How can we expect our education system to be effective, when that system cannot agree on what the purpose is?

Yes, it is important for students to have core skills. It makes sense to have a focus on STEM education (science, technology, engineering, and math). Especially, when that is where we predict the greatest growth potential for future jobs exists. We do want students to get and retain quality jobs. But, I would argue that if the purpose of education is only to get a job, then we end up with members of society who settle for the standard set for them.

What is the true purpose of education?

This has changed over time.

It is my opinion that education is a civic duty.

We need societal members who challenge the status quo, who think critically about our world’s problems, and are equipped to solve them. Not people who can just work a job.

Every person in an institution ought to be well versed in ethics and their individual responsibility. Each should question what they are told and understand the implications of the choices they make. If the purpose of education were only to get a job, it would seem that all that society wants us to be is cyborgs. Human, but just robotic enough to not cause trouble. But, trouble (something that instigates change) is what we need! We need people who are willing to challenge the way that things are in an effort to make them better for
everyone.

Because the way that things are isn’t sustainable!

Education develops individuals into contributing members of society who are equipped with the tools necessary to make life better for themselves and others. Ultimately, those who are educated can give back.

Educated individuals should give back through payment of taxes, contributing to lawmaking and the legislative processes, and returning to the education system as teachers, and as mentors to those newly entering the work force. This is how societies progress… But, it can happen outside of the institution(s).

While jobs are a necessary component of this process – without which the process fails – acquisition of the job is not the end of one’s line.

We learn… We grow… We progress… We give back.

This ought to be considered in the pedagogical and andragogical models of education.

To those who have received, it is your duty to society to give back.

This passing on of knowledge to future generations is what will cause us to progress forward or fall behind as a society. It is each of our responsibilities to learn as much as we can, so that we are well equipped to give back.

What do you think?
Tell me in the comment section below.