Lots of people seem to know how to spend your money better than you do. If you were suddenly a “Powerball” winner, after the government got their 44 percent cut, there is little doubt that extended friends and family might show up in your life to tell you exactly how to spend and manage your money. You might even attract some strangers. It’s certainly no different for those that love to sing the praises of government largesse and spending.
While the almost $680 million earmarked for a potential refund divided by millions of taxpayers is no “Powerball” jackpot, it’s real money for most taxpayers. The $900 million surplus in total is the fifth in a row for North Carolina and the largest since the Great Recession. When you start having kids, as I have recently, you quickly realize every dollar counts and certainly $125 to $250 is real money if you have real expenses in your life. That is the number the GOP threw out there for a potential maximum refund for single and married taxpayers. From the Charlotte Observer:
Their plan would give roughly $680 million in tax refunds of $125 to taxpayers who filed singly or $250 to couples who filed jointly. That is 3.6 million tax returns for 5.1 million taxpayers. The taxpayers would only get the $125 or $250 if they paid at least that much in taxes, and the refunds would be capped at those amounts.
The bill for the one time refund is HB74, and the short text of the legislation can be found here.
Brian Balfour already covered the WRAL meltdown concerning the potential refund. “Greatness can only be achieved when the subjects turn over more of society’s scarce resources to the ruling class, according to them,” writes Balfour.
As witnessed above, the government will always know best for some. Nevermind that we are spending more on K-12 education than we ever have before. And if the taxpayers can give raises to public employees is it too far a leap to consider that a tax credit is in order?
This is before all the nasty payroll deductions, but there is a great line from the autobiography of President Calvin Coolidge that summarizes the cost of government: “As I went about with my father when he collected taxes, I knew that when taxes were laid someone had to work to earn the money to pay them.” Certainly, we’d have a Revolutinary America sized revolt if we had to cut a check to the state and federal government for our entire tax bill at the end of the year.
Another great line from Coolidge: “So long as the cost of government is high the cost of living will be high.”
You alone are the best steward of your resources and property, not the government. And even if for some unfortunate reason you weren’t, it’s still your money. It’s your labor and work that funds the government. That you would expect there to be limits to that funding so vexes the individual who would prefer you toil some more for their partisan vision of society.
