I was watching that crazy interview turned infomercial that Fox's anchor bunny had with Gene Simmons (from KISS) the other day. It was a bit odd, but it did get me thinking about taxes in a slightly more nuanced way than I had before.
It seems to me that, generally, the idea of taxes is repugnant because we don't like the idea of the government taking away our money that we earned.
But listening to Simmons' self-promotional ideology made me think about the fact that I should be less annoyed by the government taking my earnings than by the government taking my spendings.
Consider that most entertainers make their livings through the sale of their art. A mega rock star is someone who has found a way to create a product that millions of people are willing to pay for. If we all buy a band's able, we have all, collectively, decided that we should invest in that band--not only so we can listen to their product now but also so that we can enjoy future their work. At the very least, purchasing a product is a public endorsement -- a capitalist vote, if you will -- to encourage future artists to make art like the stuff we bought.
I'd hate to sound like I am defending superstar millionaires (the poor things), and that's not really what I'm doing. What I am defending is our right to spend our money as we see fit.
Simmons said that he is taxed something like 48% of his income. I don't know if that's true, but let's run with the idea. As I see it, taking away half of his profit is like the government telling the consumer: "We think you have spent your money unwisely. Therefore, we, the government, will take that money away. Oh...it's okay, you can still keep the cd/book/software. We're just going to prevent the person you paid from getting the money. What you should have done with the money is donate it to the ObamaCare fund. That would have been socially more responsible. But since you didn't, we'll take the money and do it for you. Oh, and I hope you don't mind if we raise sales tax in the meantime."
It's like the government told us we made a stupid decision by endorsing a performer rather than paying for someone else's public services.
If I buy X, I'm indicating that I think more of our society's resources should be invested in X. I have, in the marketplace, cast a vote.
If the government takes away half of the money everytime someone buys X, then it is like taking away half of the votes in favor of investing more in X.
Taxation is, therefoe, a form of disenfranchisement.
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