The joy of tax: why payment should be a pleasure
I’m talking “tax”.

It is time to rehabilitate the word; indeed the notion. In doing so, we must learn to acknowledge- nay embrace- its innate goodness, decency and beauty. Of paying it, sharing in its bounty. Indeed, its infinite erotic potential.

The days of tax-shaming must come to an end.

...Time and time again the people step up to support bold progressive change - the Gonski education reforms, the NBN, a National Disability Insurance Scheme. At the same time, they reject the idea that they should pay more tax to do so. Economists like to borrow from psychologists who call this “cognitive dissonance”....

Liberal Austin homeowners surprised to find they have to pay all the taxes they voted for
...“I’m at the breaking point,” said Gretchen Gardner, an Austin artist who bought a 1930s bungalow in the Bouldin neighborhood just south of downtown in 1991 and has watched her property tax bill soar to $8,500 this year.

“It’s not because I don’t like paying taxes,” said Gardner, who attended both meetings. “I have voted for every park, every library, all the school improvements, for light rail, for anything that will make this city better. But now I can’t afford to live here anymore. I’ll protest my appraisal notice, but that’s not enough. Someone needs to step in and address the big picture.”...