"Taxation without represention"
Turmoil is often followed by a moral. In the case of American independence, the moral was not to avoid all taxes - though it had been an issue central to the turmoil. Americans had complained about the taxes because they were not receiving the government benefits their tax dollars were paying for. Today, tax complaints are of a different, and more ridiculous nature: modern Americans complain about having to pay for benefits they receive.
I find the number of tax cuts this country has had to be unnecessary. Though tax cuts theoretically stimulate the economy by allowing buyers to have more money to spend, people often seem to forget that taxes are necessary for an orderly society. Taxes pay for schools, roads, and healthcare for millions who otherwise could not afford it. The money saved from cheaper taxes is not worth the elimination of equal opportunity.
My argument may seem a slippery slope - cheaper taxes do not necessarily lead to the elimination of democratic ideals. Look at a theoretical chain of events:
1) Taxes are reduced
2) The government no longer has the funding to put lots of money into education
3) the quality of public schooling drops as fewer teachers are willing to work at government salary and as the government can no longer pay for the upkeep of facilities
4) those who can afford private schools move their children to these institutions
5) there is now a separation of socio-economic classes - poor children are left in decaying public institions while those who are wealthier have better schooling.
