Every year on April 15th, someone shares this chart.
And every year, the same argument happens in the replies.
The left sees these numbers and concludes that the rich still don't pay enough. The right sees them and thinks, “Are you kidding me? They already pay way more than their “fair share!”
But really, both groups are missing the more important question which is: why is anyone paying this much to an entity that consistently loses money, fails audits, and answers to nobody?
The argument about who pays the most is a distraction, and the powerful elite (on both sides!) are betting on keeping you fighting in the comments rather than questioning the legitimacy of the whole thing entirely.
And it works.
They've been running deficits for most of the last century despite taking more and more in taxes every year.
The national debt is over $38 trillion; the Pentagon failed its eighth consecutive audit; the IRS can’t keep its own records straight or balance its own budget, and then threatens you with penalties for rounding errors on a Schedule C.
And we are genuinely out here debating who should be carrying more of the tax “burden”.
There's a version of this conversation I’ve had a lot with my kids, and it's not the partisan one— the "tax the rich" vs. "they already pay enough" argument that goes nowhere and misses the actual point.
In our house, we talk about what taxation really is. We talk about how it works, its history, where the money actually goes versus where it’s supposed to go, and why the people who benefit from the current arrangement are very motivated to keep the debate focused on the “equal share” question instead of (as the great Thomas Sowell puts it) the, “What exactly is a 'fair share' of what someone else has worked for,” question.
My kids know the word voluntary, and they understand exactly how it applies (or rather doesn’t apply) to taxation. They know what it means for something to be taken by coercive force under threat of violence, versus given by consent for a purpose they believe is good and right.
Kids already understand that threatening and abusing people is wrong, so it’s not a stretch for them to understand that there's no room in a free and peaceful society to argue that some people deserve to be threatened and abused “more” than others.
It’s just plain wrong across the board.
Our Tax Day Sale is still live, so if you want to pick up some resources that will help your kids understand ideas like self-reliance, natural law, free enterprise, and personal responsibility, you won’t want to miss it.
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Since you’re the kind of parent who actually talks to your kids about how the world around them works, they’re already getting an education the school system won’t ever give them.
We just make books and resources to help in the work you’re already doing.
Because the kids who grow up knowing the difference between paying taxes and real charitable giving, between compliance and consent, are not going to lose the most important arguments.
Not in the comments. Not in real life. Not anywhere.
— Connor
