Everett, Wash.
Published: Wednesday, April 18, 2007

If you cherish democracy, pay your taxes with a smile

John Burbank / Syndicated Columnist

 On Tuesday, most of us paid off the taxes we owed and grumbled about it. It has become publicly permissible to figure out how to contribute as little as possible to our government through taxes. Newspapers carry advice columns about how to cut your taxes. Accountants are employed to find every nook and cranny of tax law to reduce people's taxes. George W. Bush seems to think that every problem is solved by another tax cut. The conservative Tax Foundation has calculated a "tax freedom" day that purports to determine at what date people will have worked off their taxes.

That's an odd way to put it - working off your taxes. We don't expect our police and firefighters to take a six-month leave from work. We don't expect the military to defend the country for just half a year. We don't expect that our public schools will shut down in June and open up in January.

We do expect excellent and ongoing public services, from garbage collection to public safety to disease prevention to education to national security. So if you believe in our country and in the opportunity and security which we as Americans enjoy, then you should pay your taxes with a smile. After all, taxes are the fundamental way to invest in democracy.

Monday was Patriots Day in Massachusetts. In addition to the annual Boston Marathon, Patriots Day is a celebration of the birth of our country, which began with the battle of Lexington and Concord in 1775. One interpretation of our history contends that the American Revolution was a revolt against government and taxation. Wrong! It was a revolt against taxation by a distant government across the Atlantic Ocean, a revolt against taxation without representation, a revolt against monarchy. In order to win the Revolutionary War, our forefathers had to create a new country and a new government, "of, by and for the people." With that in hand, taxation became a fundamental component for maintaining our government and enabling Americans to realize life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

In the District of Columbia, Monday was celebrated as Emancipation Day. On April 16, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, which ended slavery in the District of Columbia and freed more than 3,000 slaves.

Slavery throttled the expansion of American democracy and the role of government in protecting and building that democracy. The fear and distrust of taxes was embedded in the institution of slavery. In the slaveholders' world, there was no need for an educated workforce (in fact, it was illegal to teach slaves to read and write). There was little need for internal improvements to spur commerce and industry. And there was a great fear that if the slaveholders had to pay taxes on their property in human bondage, they couldn't afford to keep their slaves.

Patrick Henry, the author of "Give me liberty or give me death," worried about a federal slave tax hefty enough to "compel the Southern States to liberate their negroes." So to maintain the feudal system of slavery, it was imperative to limit taxation and cordon off democracy, not only from the slaves, but also from women and the majority of white males who owned little property. As we all know, it took a civil war to bring down the institution of slavery. A century and a half later, we are still working to overcome that history.

So before we complain about paying our taxes, perhaps we should step back and think about where that whining originated. It wasn't from the rebellion celebrated on Patriots Day in Massachusetts. It wasn't from the triumphs of emancipation celebrated on the same day in Washington, D.C. It comes from the demeaning, racist and anti-democratic part of our legacy. It comes from the world the slaveholders made.

The Tax Foundation ranked Washington as one of the "bad" states with the highest tax burdens. It ranked Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana, states that cradled slavery, as "good" states with low tax burdens. I gladly choose the public services, economic opportunity, and creation of wealth and prosperity in our state over what those states have to offer. And that's why on tax filing day, we, as patriotic Americans, should be celebrating, not bellyaching, about paying our taxes and supporting our democracy.

John Burbank, executive director of the Economic Opportunity Institute (www.eoionline.org), writes every other Wednesday. Write to him in care of the institute at 1900 Northlake Way, Suite 237, Seattle, WA 98103. His e-mail address is john@eoionline.org.
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA