Opinion - Letters to the Editor

POSTED: Friday, Jun. 19, 2009

Taxes are part of civilization

I believe the only people in America entitled to hold a political tea party are the citizens of the District of Columbia, as they alone pay federal taxes yet have no votes in Congress - suffering taxation without representation.

The colonial citizens who carried out the Boston Tea Party were not protesting taxes, but rather the fact that they had no say in the amount of taxes levied upon them by the British Parliament or how those taxes were spent.

Taxes have been a part of human life for thousands of years - since the first people banded together in city-states for mutual protection - and they will remain a part of life for as long as we wish to live in a civilized society.

If you think you're paying too much in taxes or that the money is not being properly spent, then take the time to attend your local city or county council meeting and make your concerns known. If you don't think your representative (local, state or federal) is doing their job properly, then run for office yourself or work on the election campaign of someone you think will do a better job. In a democracy, you are the government.

Catherine Watson

Ferndale