I’m Fixing to Pay Some New Taxes

I’m fixing to pay some new taxes.

The resourcefulness of elected officials in finding new ways to generate tax dollars never ceases to amaze me.

They do it in innovative ways while claiming they are going to tax a product or a service. But it usually boils down to a tax on you and I, which is skillfully disguised as a way to make evil profiteers pay their way and share their wealth.

There is a published tax on every thing you own, everything you earn, and everything you buy or sell. There is also a hidden tax on things you purchase. This comes in the form of taxes levied on corporations, companies or businesses that produce goods and services.

Where these taxes are hidden is in the price you pay for these goods or services. Taxes which are imposed on the corporations, companies and businesses are simply passed on to you and I, the consumer, in the price you pay when you purchase them.

So when the government, be it local, state or federal, imposes a new tax or increases an existing one, they disguise them so we poor uninformed citizens won’t realize they are taking them right out of our pockets.

Here’s an example of one of their latest ploys to plunder your pockets. It’s a state one, and cleverly labeled Senate Bill 92, which will impose a tax on rental cars to fund public transit. If someone takes a trip they already pay taxes on their airline ticket and their hotel room. All of a sudden one of those bright legislative extractors of funds from citizens realized there was no tax on rental cars!

The problem is, as always, the tax is not really paid as it’s labeled. No, it filters down to you and I. Does anyone think the rental car companies are going to pay this new tax out of their profits? Of course they aren’t. They are simply going to raise their rental car rates enough to cover them.

You may say, “Well, I never rent a car so it won’t effect me.” That’s where you’re wrong, and I’ll tell you why. Here’s how it works:

The sales and marketing manager of a company which produces canned tomatoes flies into town to present a deal to a grocery chain. Later on the financial officer of the tomato company audits their expense reports and discovers the price of rental cars has increased. He then recommends a price increase to the board of directors to cover this increased cost of doing business.

A few weeks later when you pay an inflated price for a can of tomatoes, you’re not paying more for the tomatoes—you’re fixing to pay the taxes on a rental car.