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I 'heart' taxes
Commentator Melissa Chadburn says paying your taxes shows you value your community.
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Melissa Chadburn: I love taxes. When I pay my taxes I am telling my community I value you.
Kai Ryssdal: Commentator Melissa Chadburn.
Chadburn: I'm talking about the guy who works for Department of Transportation who helped me get to and from school and thousands of job interviews.
I'm talking about my teachers: Ms. Smith who was my high school English teacher and saw something in me. Ms. Marshall, the junior high journalism instructor who saw I was abused and got me into foster care -- a long, achy road, but one that perhaps saved my life.
The nurses who tended to me when I was exposed to tuberculosis as a young child. The military that helped so many members of my family escape poverty and discover a nation they believed in so much they'd risk their lives for it.
The firefighters who do the unthinkable, who run into burning buildings for perfect strangers. Firefighters who often had to come out to emergency cold weather shelters, where I worked, in the middle of the night to tend to a homeless person who was scared they were losing their mind. Sometimes all they needed was some attention. I'll never forget one Christmas working in the shelter. A firefighter bent down in front of a homeless woman smiling and placed a band-aid on her unwounded eblow just to give her a secret joy.
If we are saying "I value you" when we pay our taxes, what are the people and corporations who don't pay all their taxes saying? Are they saying the opposite? Are they saying that all those people who do so much for us every day don't matter?
Ryssdal: Melissa Chadburn is a writer. She lives here in Los Angeles. Send us your thoughts about taxes or anything else -- write to us.
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Thank you, Melissa. I am so glad to finally here someone say aloud what I have been thinking. When Mitt Romney pays his 15 per cent, what is he saying about all the people who work hard for us? And because I am in public service, I know that most of us do work very hard. What are tax cheats saying about what they think of their communities? Public servants represent the entire range of human experience, personal ethics, and common sense -- but most are good people who do good work. I am pleased to pay for the things that make my community live-able for all of us.
Thank you, Melissa. I am so glad to finally here someone say aloud what I have been thinking. When Mitt Romney pays his 15 per cent, what is he saying about all the people who work hard for us? And because I am in public service, I know that most of us do work very hard. What are tax cheats saying about what they think of their communities? Public servants represent the entire range of human experience, personal ethics, and common sense -- but most are good people who do good work. I am pleased to pay for the things that make my community live-able for all of us.
Thank you, Melissa. I am so glad to finally here someone say aloud what I have been thinking. When Mitt Romney pays his 15 per cent, what is he saying about all the people who work hard for us? And because I am in public service, I know that most of us do work very hard. What are tax cheats saying about what they think of their communities? Public servants represent the entire range of human experience, personal ethics, and common sense -- but most are good people who do good work. I am pleased to pay for the things that make my community live-able for all of us.
Thank you, Melissa. I am so glad to finally here someone say aloud what I have been thinking. When Mitt Romney pays his 15 per cent, what is he saying about all the people who work hard for us? And because I am in public service, I know that most of us do work very hard. What are tax cheats saying about what they think of their communities? Public servants represent the entire range of human experience, personal ethics, and common sense -- but most are good people who do good work. I am pleased to pay for the things that make my community live-able for all of us.
Thank you for Mellisa Chadburn's story on paying taxes. I am also grateful for the chance to pay taxes and for the many services that I receive each day from the government institutions and their employees.
I have worked abroad and know what societies look like that do not have well-functioning governments. Government provides valuable services and I am happy to pay my taxes.
Katherine Kidd
Thank you for Mellisa Chadburn's story on paying taxes. I am also grateful for the chance to pay taxes and for the many services that I receive each day from the government institutions and their employees.
I have worked abroad and know what societies look like that do not have well-functioning governments. Government provides valuable services and I am happy to pay my taxes.
Katherine Kidd
Thank you for Mellisa Chadburn's story on paying taxes. I am also grateful for the chance to pay taxes and for the many services that I receive each day from the government institutions and their employees.
I have worked abroad and know what societies look like that do not have well-functioning governments. Government provides valuable services and I am happy to pay my taxes.
Katherine Kidd
Thank you for Mellisa Chadburn's story on paying taxes. I am also grateful for the chance to pay taxes and for the many services that I receive each day from the government institutions and their employees.
I have worked abroad and know what societies look like that do not have well-functioning governments. Government provides valuable services and I am happy to pay my taxes.
Katherine Kidd
Just listened to this on KCRW in Long Beach CA. So many times I have thought this exact thing, but so often I have felt unsure about sharing the sentiment! We pay taxes for so many good things. I want to have public systems that work for all of us. I want public schools and roadways and parks and transportation and more. On top of that, I volunteer and work with a number of community organizations and I always tell people that making monetary donations is a great way to direct their tax dollars as well, if they are feeling uncomfortable with government spending. Don't let the turkeys get you down!
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