Think Back, and Get Mad

I want you to go on a journey with me, to when you got your first "real" full-time job. You know the one I mean, the one where you worked "on the books", not mowing lawns for your neighbors during the summer. Maybe you were quoted an hourly pay rate, maybe it was an annual salary. Maybe you got paid once a week, once every two weeks, twice a month, or once a month. However it worked, you probably got out your calculator and figured out what your first paycheck would be before you got it, you multiplied your hourly pay by the number of hours you worked, or you divided your annual salary by the number of pay periods per year. Someone probably told you "Don't forget that taxes will be taken out", but you just sort of chalked that up to "miscellaneous", deciding that, yeah, your paycheck would be lower than the actual number you calculated, but not that much.


Then your first paycheck arrived, you tore the envelope open, and said "Holy crap, where did all my (expletive deleted) money go? What the (expletive deleted) is Fed Withholding and why does it cost so much?" Welcome to the wonderful world of tax withholdhing.


By now you've probably just accepted that a bunch of the money you make is taken away from you before you even see it. Deep inside you may even be a little, well, shall we say grateful, that the various government entities allow you to keep as much as they do. (For the record, this is how the government thinks too, any money that stays in your paycheck is considered by the government to be a "tax expenditure". It's as if they're doing you a favor by letting you keep some of the money you work for.) In the first quarter of the calendar year you probably file your tax returns, if you owe money you probably think of that as the taxes you "pay", or if you overpaid all year you think if that as money you "get". If you get a refund you may even think you don't PAY taxes at all. This is, of course, wrong, a refund merely means that you paid more than you should have and the overage is returned to you, without interest of course.

Right now about one-quarter of my paycheck is withheld for Federal taxes. That's Federal income tax, Social Security tax, and Medicare tax. One quarter. I work ten hours a week, two hours a DAY, to pay these withholdings. My wife has similar withholdings from her paycheck. That doesn't include state taxes.

Lest you think this is a rant against all taxes, it's not. I like the idea of having carrier battle groups, interstate highways, and Marine divisions, all of which are expensive. I object, however, to money that I work for being given to people who took out mortgages that were too expensive for them to handle, all while I pay my mortgage on three-quarters of my salary.

There's only one reason why we Americans put up with this, because we never see the money we "spend" on taxes. We consider our take-home pay to be our salary. If you want to see a change in our tax structure we need to eliminate withholding. If your paycheck was your actual salary, then every month or quarter the government sent you a bill for your taxes, it wouldn't take long (probably before the next election day) before taxes went down. In my own case, the monthly check I'd have to write for my taxes would be the single biggest check I'd send out all month, it would be considerably larger than my mortgage payment. That will get people's attention.

And maybe, just maybe, the people who's attention was gotten would vote.

A Rite of Spring

Spring is fast approaching, and practitioners of a classic American sport are getting ready for the new season. In some of the warmer parts of the country folks are already engaged in their passtime, while those of us in colder areas are looking ahead to the coming season. Soon you won't be able to go to the local park without seeing Dads teaching their sons the basics of a life-long passion, or on a lazy Sunday afternoon you can turn on the TV and watch the pros go at it.


I am, of course, talking about fishing.


I honestly don't remember the first time I went fishing, but it must have been about 40 years ago (I'm 45 now). I remember my Dad telling me I caught a blowfish and a striped bass using a little bait-casting rig my parents bought me at the local department store (and I still have the rod). When I was in High School my father and I would go surf fishing every other weekend (when the tides were right), and you could always count on my friend George and I being at the local pond going after catfish, carp and sunnies on a summer afternoon.

There are as many reasons for fishing as there are fishermen (or fisherwomen). Some people fish because they enjoy eating a fish that was swimming around an hour or so before it was cooked (and I can tell you from personal experience that no fish tastes better than that). Some enjoy having the latest gadgetry. For me, I enjoy matching wits with an animal that's perfectly suited for his environment. I enjoy reading the water to decide where the fish are likely to be and what they're likely to bite on, then presenting that bait to that place in a manner that won't scare him away. Many times I've come home without catching a fish, but I've never regretted a day spent fishing.

You don't need lots of expensive equipment. My primary freshwater rig is a 30+ year old rod I bought in a department store combined with a reel that my brother gave me that may be older than I am. Last Saturday I seriously considered buying a couple bamboo poles (at $4 each) to let my nephew and nieces use during our annual family vacation. The fish doesn't care what's on your end of the line.