Liz Smith | 04/14/2009 11:00 pm

Liz Smith: Taxes Are Like the Weather

In response to: Are you more aware of, in recent times, where your tax money is going? Do you think about it more?

I never think about my tax money. I try to be like the actress Carole Lombard who died during a bond drive for Uncle Sam in World War II. She said she was open to what her country needed and it was a privilege to pay taxes.

I couldn’t change any of it if I tried, so why sweat this larger-than-life issue? I was thrilled to pay a lot of taxes when I made a lot of money. I hope not to have to go on doing that now that I’m in my dotage.

But it’s like the weather; not much we can do about it. So put taxes where they belong in your life and that is not in the forefront of your concerns.

3 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

I’m acutely aware that I pay someones entire annual salary. With that, I pay and move on. Life’s to short to worry about stuff like that.

By Cheryl Mitchell on 04/15/2009 7:41 am

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Render unto Caesar, right? : )

By Eileen Alannah on 04/15/2009 8:42 am

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I don’t think we should pay taxes on unemployment insurance. Six months of unemployment is $10,192 (in Texas) minus 20% in taxes (that’s what I paid on my 2008 return) makes it $8,154. I’ll be happy to pay taxes, just as I always do, when I’m making a real salary, which in my case, $40K will be enough. I used to make $55K, but I’m fine with a paycut just to have a job and pay I can live on again.

By Laura Ward on 04/15/2009 12:54 pm