Why I don't like taxes

I've always said I don't mind paying taxes as long as they go toward tangible things and aren't wasted. That's what bugs me about taxation in this country - it seems to go into some giant sinkhole where I'm paying for really good health insurance for elected officials and, you know, gold-plated toilet seats. But today I realized there is another reason to dislike taxes.

I had to get my passport renewed because of our trip in November. I really hope it takes less than three months for the wheels of passport renewal to grind out one for me! So I mailed it - with a check for 67 dollars.

Let's think about that for a while. It cost me $67 to renew my passport. If only 500,000 people do that in a year - which might be very high or very low, I have no idea, but figure in a country with a population of 300 million it's probably low - the State Department makes 33.5 million dollars. And that's just from passport renewal! What the hell else are they making money on?

I know it takes a lot of money to run our corrupt government, but are you telling me that all the things we pay for that the government provides isn't enough and they have to tax us even more? Jesus. If we're paying for this stuff, our taxes should be lower or non-existent. If we pay more in taxes, all this shit should be free.

When is the revolution coming?