Tax Day

It's Tax Day, so of course I have to write something about it. For inspiration I turn to former Bill Clinton aide Paul Begala, who made this comment:

"Happy Patriots' Day. April 15 is the one day a year when our country asks something of us -- or at least the vast majority of us.

For those who wear a military uniform, those who serve the rest of us as policemen and firefighters and teachers and other public servants, every day is patriots' day. They work hard for our country; many risk their lives -- and some lose their lives.

But for the rest of us, the civilian majority, our government asks very little. Except for April 15. On this day, our government asks that we pay our fair share of taxes to keep our beloved country strong and safe."

I think it is a stretch to call April 15 Patriot's Day, but what bugs me most about this comment is the distinction Begala makes between public servants and "civilians". It has always bothered me when U.S. Senators speak about themselves as public servants who have made sacrifices in order to serve the public good: sacrifices like $170,000 annual incomes plus full retirement benefits after just one term in office, plus paid travel, honorariums, and lots of free meals. Begala however is talking here about people in the military, police, fire, and teachers. He is also talking about all the other civil servants employed by federal, state, and local governments. All of these government workers I am sure are honorable people who do good work. But let's be honest: the vast majority of these government employees are motivated more by a paycheck than they are by civic duty. Many of them love their job and the people they work with/for, so certainly you will find a teacher working beyond what is required, or a social worker checking in on a client on her own time. And certainly you will find people on the front line risking their lives every time they punch in on their time clock. But would they do this if they were not receiving a paycheck?

Government workers pay taxes, just like the rest of us. When you read Begala's statement you get the idea that they don't, that their sacrifice of being a civil servant is all their government asks of them. They pay with their time and personal sacrifice, while civilians pay through their fair share of taxes. But that is not the case. With this reasoning, government workers are essentially getting taxed twice, once for their sacrifice, the other by paying taxes.

There's another problem with Begala's statement though. Civil servants actually can get paid a pretty good salary, plus all kinds of great benefits. Certainly someone potentially could make more selling real estate than being a teacher, but then again, maybe not in this housing market. So a teacher potentially could be more secure in their job than a realtor. Or to put it another way, a person could make more being a teacher than they could managing a clothing store. We all make choices with our careers. Some choose careers that fall under a government paycheck, others choose careers where their paycheck comes from a private entity. ALL of these people make sacrifices to their work and to the people they work with and for. There are construction workers and coal miners and all kinds of workers not under the government umbrella who also risk their lives every day.

I mean absolutely no disrespect to any civil servant when I say this, but civilians are just as vital as their civil servant counterparts, if not more so, to the strength and security of our country. Civilians create jobs and wealth. Civilians steer our economic health, along with innovation and resources for non-profit organizations. In other words, Paul Begala, we are all in this together. Please don't set up some distinction between the "civil class" and the "private class", just like you have been trying to do between those who have and those who don't. We all sacrifice, we all give, we all take.