Your Tax Money at Work

Today it hit me like a Texas Tornado, or a metric ton of bricks. There are 3 kinds of people in this world:

 

  1. Tax Protesters.

  2. Tax Embracers.

  3. Tax Sufferers-in-Silence.

More and more I’m running into Tax Protesters. They aren’t the kind that absolutely refuse to pay income tax, but they are becoming more vocal about what they see as our different levels of government generally smothering Americans. Some of them talk of “Taking America back”. Some tell me that they are contacting their representatives on a regular basis. Whatever the action, these people used to be part of the Tax Sufferers-in-Silence. They are good, hardworking, moral, usually Christian, citizens.

Our leaders would do well to remember what happened when Christians in the early colonies were overtaxed, and subject to “…a long train of abuses…”. We Americans will put up with a lot of shenanigans, but there comes a point where responsible citizens will rein it in.

The Tax Embracers are of the category where it is generally assumed that your government is the best entity at taking care of the public. After all, look at our beautiful city parks, paved sidewalks, and public schools. (OK, so don’t look at our public schools.) Police, fire, and the Tidal Basin in Washington are testimony to the government’s care for us. (OK, so forget the Tidal Basin. The last time I was there, trash was floating all over in the water. On the other hand, there were chain link fences everywhere because of Homeland Security, and you couldn’t go into the Capitol to use the restroom, which probably is why the Tidal Basin was trashed.) Tax embraces will literally kill you during the process of “taking care” of you. Don’t get me going on this.

Tax-Sufferers-in-Silence are the absolute largest group. Our friends, relatives, coworkers, and neighbors fall into this group. They usually work real hard to make a living, and don’t have time for tax protesting, or other nonsense. Not only that, they aren’t sure what to do, or where to start. They are the person who you always hear saying, “You can’t fight City Hall.” Baloney. For an example of how one simple letter can LOWER your taxes, check out my blog, “Copy of a Tax Protest Letter”. That one letter lowered my property taxes, and you can do it too! Suffering in silence isn’t necessary, anymore. If ever there was hope in America, it is in the fact that you can now hold the government’s feet to the fire.

 

Copy of a Tax Protest Letter to Gunnison County

This is a copy of my tax assessment protest letter to Gunnison County, Colorado.

Mr. Jerry L. Begly

….

Marble, Colorado 81623

June 1, 2009

Gunnison County Assessor

Ms. Kristy McFarland

221 N. Wisconsin Ave. Ste A

Gunnison, CO 81230

Dear Ms. McFarland:

The purpose of this letter is to formally protest our 2009 Real Property Notice of Valuation. The properties in question are Lots _ and _, Filing _, ____ __ ____, Marble, Colorado. The taxes that we paid this year were too high for the following reasons:

  1. The “SQUARE FEET LIVING AREA” is 0, not ___. The house is unfinished.

  2. The Real Estate market has dropped in most places in Western Colorado, including neighboring counties and towns like Carbondale, and Aspen.

  3. We did not add $_____ worth of materials or labor into our house in the last two years!

  4. The entire economy of the United States is in a downward spiral in case you haven’t noticed. Increasing taxes is anathema to the recovery of our family and our country. You are one of the few people who can “stand in the gap”, and have the power to make corrective decisions.

  5. We are not getting even the most basic government services for the taxes that we DO pay. Although our house is located on a county owned road, in a platted subdivision, with over 24 houses in 3 miles, we get NO road maintenance, and NO snowplowing at all. Do you have any houses at all in Gunnison county that are in the same situation? Please list even one house, in your response letter.

     

    I’ve had to walk ________ miles to get to my car by 6 am because the county doesn’t plow the snow off of the road. I’ve hauled groceries and propane, uphill in a sled, many times because of lack of county road maintenance. The ambulance, EMS, fire truck, and police can’t get to my house because of unmaintained roads. Apparently, the only government agent who can make it to my house is the TAX ASSESSOR.

  6. In addition to the lack of road maintenance, there is NO public school provided by Gunnison county within 45 minutes of my house. If my kids attended public schools in Carbondale, the commute could take as long as one and one half hours, one way, in the wintertime!

     

With taxes increasing, and NO basic government services, the term “Taxation without representation” comes to mind. Our founding fathers were more than just a little bit upset over their version of “Taxation without representation.” I especially think of this while digging my car out of a snowbank late at night during a driving snowstorm; all because my tax dollars aren’t coming back to me in even the most basic of services: public safety.

I am writing this protest letter as a husband, and father of seven children.  Presently, I am laid off my job. The welfare state, as it now stands in America, is reprehensible. Therefore, we have taken NO government assistance up to this point. But with increasing taxes, unemployment, a bad economy, and the need to feed and house my family, maybe we will need government assistance in the future.

That would mean you, your family, and friends will end up supporting us. You might be able to sleep at night now, but you’ll remember me every time you open your wallet.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Jerry Begly

P.S. Visit my blogsite at www.jerrybegly.com for more tax reform info.

(This letter has been slightly modified from the original.)