One little side note...

[avevale_intelligencer]

My definition of "my money" is fairly narrow, confined as it is to that money which is at any given time actually in my possession. When I pay for a thing or a service, I regard the money I pay as no longer mine, and what the recipient does with it, while it may cause me some concern, is not something over which I expect to have any control. Similarly with taxes, which I regard as the price I pay for living in a country which is to some extent governed (though I've remarked before that it seems to be taking them a demnition long time to beat that devil Bonaparte). I pay them, the money leaves my possession, and while I am convinced the price is too high and the service substandard in the extreme, there is a lamentable lack of competition in the governing biz, and it is, in the time-honoured phrase, the only game in town.

I mention this because I am (I confess it) a little amused by the outraged fulminations of various people about the government using "their money," sometimes millions of pounds/dollars of "their money," to bail out the banks. I agree with the sentiment entirely...it's just the way it's expressed that gets me. I mean, whose money are they supposed to use? As far as I know, government's main if not only source of actual funding is taxation. All the rest is borrowed, and you can't use credit to pay for credit.

It would be nice if the government, instead of demanding outright payment, had to borrow money from its citizens, and return it with interest on demand (given a suitable period of notice, and of course a minimum term). If you kept lending them more and more and left it with them till retirement, that would be your pension taken care of. But then, I suppose, how would the government come up with the extra?

It probably wouldn't work...but at least then there would be some reason to refer to one's paid taxes as "my money."

Comments

[howeird]

For a very long time the USA did not have an income tax. Taxes were on alcohol and tobacco, and later gasoline was added, paid by the manufacturer. The cost was of course passed directly to the consumer, but the tax was levied on A&T whether or not the item sold. When income tax was established, it started being "our money". I'm only taxed if I get paid. The government takes a percentage of what I earn, so I look at this as my money, given up mostly against my will.

The government *does* borrow from citizens, and pays interest. It's called Treasury Bonds. I used to buy those before the interest rates dropped too low. I am planning on buying California state bonds later this month because there is a 2-day window for the citizens prior to the public offering.

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

Yes, true, ours has similar things, but I was thinking *instead of* taxes, rather than *as well as.*

[howeird]

I would also prefer a return to the old way of the government taxing things, not people, and borrowing with interest.