Taxes, Bailouts, and Boycotts

I am in Quebec right now and it is expensive. Not just a little expensive, but New York City expensive. I am not even in the city of Montreal, I am on the outskirts. I went to Taco Bell and still spent 10 dollars. WTF??? Taco Bell here charges 1.49 Canadian for one taco. Granted, I apparently screwed up, because I got the meal deal and it came with fries. WTF, fries at Taco Bell???

I have also talked with some of the people up here about what they pay in income tax. The consensus is about 45-48%. I have attempted to research Canadian tax codes and news articles, but just like the USA it is hard to nail down just what a person pays in taxes because you have to include income tax for both state and federal, Social Security, FICA, sales tax, property tax, luxury tax, Sin tax, etc.

Most countries have a VAT (value added tax) tax. This is a tax that apparently taxes a product at every stage of its build. Now I am no expert so research it yourself, but I take it to mean that a tax must be paid at each step in the manufacturing process. From what I can understand it is supposed to spread out the cost of taxes so it doesn't all land on the end user (consumer), prevents tax cheating, and it ups total tax collection. Not being the trusting type, my guess is that it is just a way the governments that use it found to bring in more tax revenue. It was first created in France so you can make your own assumptions.

I am not going to go into who pays more taxes nor am I going to talk about how the US tax system is better. I think our system is just as bad as the others.

My first question is, "why does it have to be so damn confusing and complicated."

There has to be a better way to collect the appropriate and FAIR taxes to run the government while not creating tax cheats because someone is either not smart enough or doesn't have time to figure everything out. I believe rich people DO cheat on their taxes and are able to pay less than everyone else, because they can afford to employ people just to figure out the loop holes.

My second question is, "who is better at spending your hard earned money, you or the government?"

I think this question is rather appropriate given the current state of affairs in the USA. Politicians, I include Republicans and Democrats, think they can spend our money better than we can. They are currently using our money to bail out companies we consumers, aka tax payers, have deemed unworthy of our money. If we are not willing to buy their products, isn't it fair to say we do not want our taxes to go to them?

That is the great thing about capitalism, we get to vote by using or not using our money. Don't approve of something a company does, you can choose to shop somewhere else. People do it all the time, its called boycotting.

I myself, plan on boycotting restaurants that put up signs saying no guns allowed. I don't know how long that will last, because if The Outback puts one up, I might have to leave the gun in the car and become a sheep for an hour or two.

Note: I rarely drink anymore and if I do, the gun stays at home.