Taxes

Again I might be lagging but... I've just decided that I'm sick of paying taxes.

This is new because normally I like the idea of some responsible, socially minded, democratically elected body taking my money and investing it in roads and health care and all that nice stuff. But I've just decided, its time to quit this tax-paying shit, and it was a business journalist who convinced me.

I was telling him that I got this job in the Hague (a short term posting as a judge with the International Criminal Court, ha ha), and he said, "I hope this doesn't offend you but... how much do they pay you?"

I replied that it was the same, roughly, as what the BBC pays per-day. I gave him the number, in pounds. The reaction was an immediate FOTH (Fly-Off The Handle).

"WHAT!! That's what they pay you? You're telling me they get away with that?? And, what, you're telling me you pay taxes on that???"

Um... yeah, taxes.

"Well you know where that tax money is going, don't you? Banks, yeah... their taking your pocket change to pay for some fat-cat's bonus."

This really wasn't the rant I was expecting, from someone who writes about money all day every day, who is, basically, paid by banks.

He has a point though, don't you think?

Then to top this off, I get the news today that the Canadian government is handing more cutbacks to the CBC, and that they're even debating the idea of putting advertising on CBC Radio. If CBC Radio had ads, even I wouldn't listen, and I've always listened, I work for them!

My mind wandered to the lock-out of 2006, and how CBC employees teamed up with local community radio stations and worked anyway, had a lot of fun, and did a better job than when they had managers breathing down their necks. The CBC's got a lot of fans, so why not directly sponsor these stations? (Although I hate the idea of funding-drives like NPR has.) The problem is, we'd all still have to pay taxes, pay for subsidies for the oil industry, pay for wars we don't want to fight, all the while watching the things we care about being clumsily hacked-away.