Resolve today to lessen fear and loathing of taxes

Many of the millions of American procrastinators view today as the day from hell. Today, of course, is D-Day, deadline day for responsible citizens to finish forking over billions of hard-earned dollars to Uncle Sam and their state and local treasuries.

It’s long been a natural gut-level reaction to greet Tax Day with disdain. Our popular and political cultures often demonize it as a springtime ritual of money-grabbing. The pain in the pocketbook this year translates into $3.3 trillion in federal taxes and $1.6 billion in state and local taxes for all citizens.

But taxophobia has a long and celebrated heritage. After all, a British tax on tea in 1773 ignited an angry revolution that led to the birth of this nation. In contemporary America, we spend more money on taxes each year than we do on food, clothing and housing combined, according to the U.S. Tax Foundation.

Over the years, we have been bombarded with horror stories of pork-barrel tax spending on $640 toilet seats, on an $890 million parking lot in Guam and on a $97,000 study on the “everyday functioning of a brothel in Peru.”

What’s more, we are reminded each year that it takes more than three months of toil and trouble just to satisfy the tax man’s annual avaricious appetite. This year, Tax Freedom Day arrives April 24. One consolation for Buckeye State residents, however, is that freedom day arrives a tad bit earlier this year on Tuesday, thanks to slightly lower Ohio income-tax rates.

THE UP SIDE OF TAXPAYING

Collectively, taxes and tax paying have gotten a bad rap. In all fairness, however, an attitude adjustment is in order. From our earliest lessons in elementary school civics, we learn that paying taxes ranks as one of the foremost civic responsibilities of all good citizens. We pay taxes as a form of paying dues for the goods, services and freedoms we receive as American citizens.

In return, we receive many positive benefits. Our tax dollars support everything from defense of our nation against ISIS to public schools to law enforcement to social services to smooth roads to community-development projects and much, much more.

When push comes to shove, many Americans recognize as much as well. A recent survey from the oversight arm of the Internal Revenue Service found that a majority of Americans agree that it is their civic responsibility to meet tax bills and unacceptable to cheat on paying taxes. Nonetheless 14 percent found cheating perfectly acceptable.

That mindset likely stems from those who see weaknesses and inequities in the taxes or tax-collection system. To be sure, there is room for criticism of current tax policies, but such criticism should not manifest itself into gaming the system and shirking responsibility.

Rather, those who call for structural change should exercise yet another of their civic responsibilities – voting – to elect candidates armed with tax reform proposals that best match their views. In this hotly contested election year, such calls for reform run a wide gamut among the five principal presidential candidates duking their way to this summer’s nominating conventions.

Those who try to short-circuit the system because of any legitimate lack of resources to pay can find the IRS does indeed show a compassionate side. It offers a variety of ways to extend filing and to divide your tax bill into more manageable payments. But those in these straits must act no later than midnight tonight.

When looking at the big picture, taxpayers must first and foremost remember that taxes serve as one tangible means to serve the overall public good. They also must remember that the responsibilities of paying produces a wide variety of legitimately earned rights. They include enjoying the benefits they bring in smoother highways, strong school systems and other valued public expenditures. Tax paying also buys citizens the right to question, monitor and criticize taxation priorities they find misguided at state, local and federal levels. Those who cheat or game the system sacrifice such privileges.

For many, we realize that little can be said or done to silence the annual exercise in moaning and groaning that accompanies the U.S. government’s biggest payday today. Nonetheless, regardless of the size of your tax bills, many of the services and rights that they afford all Americans remain priceless.