My son recently pointed out that the state of Colorado has 43 cents tax added to a gallon of gas and commented on how cheap gas would be without that added tax. I mentioned that without a gas tax there would be no revenue for the upkeep of Colorado’s roads and highways. This led to a conversation about taxes in general.

The United States is the most taxed industrial country in the world. Here are just some of the things we are taxed for: gas; alcohol; tobacco; property; sales; telephone, inheritance tax; luxury; payroll; social security; income tax, lodging, toll ways and syntax on items such as tobacco, alcohol, and anything else authorities deem unhealthy. (California is now considering a tax on cappuccino).

Since the tobacco war has been waged for so many years, the new battle-cry is on what we eat. Don’t be surprised to see taxes levied on Big Macs, Whoppers, pizza, sausage, bacon, (possibly all red meat) candy and what ever the ‘powers’ that be determine unhealthy for Americans. Oh, and lets not forget the ten-year battle to price SUVs out of the market.

I do have to chuckle that the newest ‘revelation’ is that obesity is directly/indirectly responsible for more deaths than any other cause. Duh. Seems a little odd to me that these same blames for heart disease were once attributed solely to tobacco. The truth is that diet has always played a role in what is deposited in our arteries. Slim people have heart surgeries and stents inserted into their hearts right along side the fat ones. Some people, regardless of size, are more inclined to retaining bad cholesterol than others. Do we really need government determining what we should eat? Do we really need to be punished by taxes to get the message?

The more taxes imposed, the less money we have to go out and buy stuff. The more we buy stuff, the more taxes are put into the coffers of running government. We don’t need more taxes…we need less. It’s our money. Someone in congress said: “But how will we pay for a tax cut?” You will pay for it by giving it back to it’s rightful owners so they can spend it instead of you. They just might decide to buy SUVs, drive the freeways (not toll ways) buy big Macs and camp out (no lodging taxes that way) and feast on big beef steaks. Or, if they prefer, they could drive Yugos, eat egg substitute sandwiches on wheat bread, stay in luxury hotels and snack on carrot sticks and granola.

The alternatives are letting Congress give our hard earned money to the study of the sex habits of the dung beetle or forking out millions to study and chart why the caribou ‘might’ suffer if we build an oil pipeline through the northern tundra of Alaska. (What the study tries to stifle is the fact that the caribou have been shown to gather along the areas where the pipeline exists with an increase in procreation to the herds.)…go figure. Could it be they like the soft earth around the pipeline, or the warmth generated? Ah, maybe if we force the issue, Congress will fork out even more money to study the phenomenon. The truth is that the caribou aren’t going to go extinct if we build the pipeline that will make us independent of Middle Eastern oil and thus lower our gas taxes. But, the ‘powers’ would put up a vigorous campaign against it. Any excuse to preserve or create new taxes is the fuel that burns the expanse of government.

If this trend isn’t reversed, there is a very real danger that someday another American Revolution is going to burst forth, and for the very same reason…protesting taxes. Are we really being represented on these tax issues or are our representatives acting from strictly political motivation?