Time to Withhold Wihholdings
I have never been more convinced in my entire life that if you want to reform the government and get spending under control, we need to get rid of withholdings when it comes to taxes.
Allow me to explain.
This past weekend I went back home to Illinois to visit my accountant. I’ve had the same guy for 12 years because I believe a good accountant is like a good mechanic or barber, once you get one you never let him go.
Well after sitting down and getting the taxes done he told me that my wife and I owed Uncle Sam several thousand dollars and some change. My wife and I are independent contractors and have tons of 1099s so naturally we will owe money. Luckily, whenever I paid for what I do I withhold about 30% so we’re covered at the state and federal level. That didn’t make the Lovely Mrs. Shabazz feel better because all she did was complain about having to pay the government and what they spend her money on.
That’s when I got the idea to write this blog post. If we want more people to pay attention to their government, maybe we should get rid of withholding altogether and they would have to pay their taxes when they file.
I understand that withholding makes it easier for the federal government to collect taxes, but as I remember reading it also makes it easier for the taxpayer to not truly aware of what they owe and what the government spends. And it also makes it easier to raise taxes. You can’t miss what you don’t see, right?
Just imagine what your life would be like if you didn’t have your taxes withheld and instead had to write a check. Or better, yet, just imagine what life would be like if everyone had to write a check on April 15 and pay up. I honestly think we would have a better country because people would pay more attention to what the government does and we would hold elected officials accountable. Or at the very least we could start to have a grown up discussion about what our spending priorities should be.
Who’s with me on this one? And while we’re at it, why not move Election Day to April 16?
