HELP I’M BEING TAXED TO DEATH … or at least it feels that way sometimes. Each day I awake anticipating the mysteries of what the day might have in store for me and while it will keep me guessing, there’s always two things I have no doubt about: God has once again blessed me with a new day - and my government will come up with a new way … to add taxes to something else.

Most of us don’t really give much thought to the amount we pay annually in taxes and we tend to think of taxes in the context of our annual Federal Income Tax Returns. Or, for those of us required to file State Income Tax Returns, we pat ourselves on the back once we have completed this task (big job) with a sigh of relief, until the next tax filing season rolls around.

Business owners don’t fall prey to this folly, they know all too well the task is a regular aspect of doing business. I won’t go into that lion’s den today though, because we are talking taxes and not Business.

Have you ever stopped to think about how much of your hard earned dollars go to taxes? Do you think you know what your ‘tax bracket’ really is? For most of us, our most generous ‘guestimate’ is probably an understatement. I’m sure there are many of us who deliberately avoid any thought on the topic, for it would depress us to death. Those are some options folks - let me see … do I want to be taxed to death or depressed to death? Decisions, decisions!

Here’s a small sample of some of the taxes we pay in our (USA) country:

• Accounts Receivable Tax
• Boating License Tax
• Building Permit Tax
• Capital Gains Tax
• CDL License Tax
• Cigarette Tax
• City Tax
• Corporate Income Tax
• County Tax
• Dividends Earned Tax
• Dog License Tax
• Excess Earnings Tax
• Federal Income Tax
• Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
• Fishing License Tax
• Food License Tax
• Fuel Permit Tax
• Gift Tax
• Gasoline Tax
• Hunting License Tax
• Inheritance Tax
• Interest Earned Tax
• Inventory Tax
• IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
• IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
• Liquor Tax
• Local Income Tax
• Luxury Tax
• Marriage License Tax
• Medicare Tax
• Per Diem Tax
• Personal Property Tax
• Real Property Tax
• Service charge taxes
• Social Security Tax
• Road Usage Tax (Truckers)
• Sales Taxes (Alabama taxes almost everything)
• Recreational Vehicle Tax
• School Tax
• State Income Tax
• State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
• Telephone Federal Excise Tax
• Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
• Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax
• Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
• Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
• Telephone State and Local Tax
• Telephone Usage Charge Tax
• Usage Tax
• Utility Tax
• Vehicle License Registration Tax
• Vehicle Sales Tax
• Watercraft Registration Tax
• Well Permit Tax
• Workers Compensation Tax

I don’t know about you, but I want to know where all that tax money is going? For those who have fallen upon hard times, they know all too well, it can’t be going toward any type of services we can collect. If you want some of those tax dollars back via government programs to the needy, you have to lose everything you own first. And for those whom find themselves that unfortunate, if they ever manage to get back on their feet - the government is going to come knocking, to ensure they get back everything you collected from them, and then some.

So just where are all those tax dollars going? I’m sure if you polled one hundred people, you would get at least thirty different answers, with explanations that all boil down to the same basic analysis … “I don’t know, I just pay what I’m told I owe.”

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