Friday, January 15, 2010

Poker and Taxes Don't Mix

Grandpa had a few guys over for a poker game one night.  Booze was flowing pretty freely that night and pots were won and lost pretty evenly for a while.  It was a jovial group until one of the players had this to say.

“Well, guys, its getting near that time of year again.  April 15 will be coming up sooner than you think.  All the people will be scowering the tax code in hopes they’ll find that tax loophole that they’re always complaining about so that they can get out of paying their taxes and allow everyone else to pay for the programs they were so avid about.

Reminds me of something a man once said, then very seriously he slowly said,

‘According to the Tax Foundation, taxes now consume more than 38% of the average family's budget. That is more than is spent on food, clothing, housing, and transportation combined. Compare this to the plight of medieval serfs. They only had to give the lord of the manor one-third of their output -- and they were considered slaves. So what does that make us?’

Daniel Mitchell said that back in ’99.”

The room became quiet as everyone looked at the guy then looked at each other.   For some reason nobody was interested in playing poker any longer that night.

I leave ya to your own thoughts on the matter now.  Have a happy tax day everyone.

8 comments:

Les Carpenter said...

The beast with an insatiable appetite,... the Government!

But isn't that us?

Guess that would make us slaves to ourselves.

The Griper said...

"But isn't that us?"

good question, RN. here is another one. has the Master turned into the slave and has the slave become the Master?

Anonymous said...

wow ..you sure were inspired for this one ..hehehe..BUT if i may add did the serfs had all these goverment services back then??
if we are slaves as you tend to bring up well I think we are slaves mainly to our own lil comfort and that well cost money ...
have a good day
sha

The Griper said...

can't argue that one, sha. lol
but will say that your argument could be taken as showing that the serfs were far freer than we are today because they did not depend upon their Lords to provide those services as we do the Lords of today.

remember, sha, the freer a person is the less dependent he is on other people to provide his needs.

The Griper said...

btw, sha you were my inspiration for this one. lol
have fun trying to find those loopholes for your tax clients this year.

Anonymous said...

thankyou Griper..it is always fun to find the loopholes and get my customers what is rightfull theirs...sometimes it is hidden under tons of tax laws but still even more rewarding when I get it for my customers...
I would not say the serfs were freer tho ..they did not get any services at all even the right to live was given by the Master so I think I will stick to my little comfort services ..hehehe
bye for now
sha

Karen K said...

Wow. Excellent and disturbing point, my friend.

The Griper said...

that quote does make you think a bit, doesn't it, karen?

sha,
the right to live is still up to governments. as long as the people give the government the right to impose the death penalty and as long as the people give the government the right to declare wars, the lives of people are still in the hands of governments. in fact, as long as governments has the right to use "force" the lives of people are always in jeopordy. and that includes the innocent as well as the guilty.

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