It's funny to listen to politicians talk about taxes.

This is really at the forefront of politics these days because W is proposing a tax cut.

The funny part is because W has been running all around the country trying to justify it, trying to convince taxpayers that it's OK.

That's funny.

It's funny because a tax cut needs no justification.

I guess I look at taxes and government differently than a lot of people.

I look at taxes and government in terms of "owing." Everybody says we "owe" taxes. That means we owe the government, because government collects the taxes.

So what does "owe" mean?

It means "to be under obligation to pay or repay in return for something received" or "to be indebted to" or "to be in debt."

So essentially when we pay taxes our government is telling us that we are indebted to it.

That kind of runs afoul of the whole concept of a government of the people, by the people and for the people, doesn't it?

If the government is for us, how can we be indebted to it?

Seems to me the government should be indebted to the people. After all, we are the ones who provide all the means for government to work.

All the government has and all the government is came from us. Taxes are funds taken from working people who are placed under threat of imprisonment if they don't pay.

So when W talks about a tax cut, it seems perfectly clear to me that it is the right thing to do.

Lots of people think otherwise. They say it is too big and that it will benefit only the rich or that it might hurt the economy.

They come up with any number of reasons why a tax cut is a bad idea and then they say that W has to justify his tax cut.

I think a tax cut needs no justification. What needs justification is government spending.

But most of what we hear in the media is the other way around.

We're supposed to be leery of a tax cut. Afraid of it.

That's nonsense.

Further nonsense is how tax cuts are characterized as giveaways. Politicians who are against tax cuts make it sound like the government is handing out money when it cuts taxes.

Tax cuts don't give money to anyone. Tax cuts don't give money back to anyone.

Tax cuts simply leave a little more money in the hands of the people who work to earn it. Instead of going to Washington, the money stays in your pocket or your bank account.

How can this be a bad thing? It can only be a bad thing if government spends too much.

And some of our U.S. senators and representatives sound concerned that government will be unable to control spending.

They warn us of "deficit spending" if tax cuts are enacted.

My question to them would be, "Who's doing the spending in this 'deficit spending?" Is it the taxpayers?

Some of our congressmen - including Indiana Senator Evan Bayh - are talking about tax-cut triggers. The triggers, they say, would ensure there would be no deficit spending.

Triggers do that by halting any planned tax cut if tax revenues fail to reach a certain level in any given year.

That gives the government the luxury of confiscating more wealth from the people to cover its spending habits.

Sounds like everything is tilted toward the government, doesn't it?

I think it should be tilted toward the people.

Here's an idea. Why don't we apply one of those triggers to government spending?

I'll even be generous and give our government a 5 percent increase every year.

That's more of an increase than most workers get. Would you be satisfied with a 5 percent a year pay increase?

After 5 percent, we shut off the spigot. No more spending.

Sounds reasonable, but you know what? I guarantee you will never hear a politician talk about a spending trigger.

Most politicians never saw a government program they didn't want to fund. I suppose it has to do with self worth. If you can get a program or two passed, it makes you feel like you are helping people.

The message I would like to send to Washington is that the best way to help us would be to shrink the monster that has become our federal government.

Government is everywhere, in everything, and politicians are proposing more new programs and regulations all the time.

Of course there are things the federal government must regulate and oversee. Things like defense, roads, civil rights, utilities and the environment. There should be programs for the poor, the disabled and the elderly.

And we should pay taxes to fund those necessary government functions.

But federal government has gone way beyond that and way beyond what the founders intended. All one needs to do is read the 10th Amendment to come to that realization.

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively or to the people."

That's why it bothers me to hear politicians rallying against tax cuts. It's as if they're telling us, "Hey, we can't afford to let you keep a little more of your earnings because we might have to expand our already bloated federal bureaucracy."

That's just wrong.

If there is a revenue problem in Washington, don't let politicians trick you into believing it's because we're taxed too little.

The problem is that politicians spend too much. [[In-content Ad]]