Taxes Equal Charity?

Originally I thought the most interesting news of the week would be the return of the P'Zone at Pizza Hut. Nothing like a big ass calzone for dinner. This is the type of food that will fill you up. Unless you have a tapeworm. Plus, the other good thing is that it's completely portable. That means I can take it home rather than eat it at the restaurant where they serve those horrible Pepsi products. Now, while this news makes me happy, it isn't the most interesting. The most interesting is the story about the University of Oregon study that found paying taxes makes people happy.

Stories like this simply remind me why I don't get concerned about the cost of tuition rising at a much higher rate of inflation. Well, actually the main reasons I'm not concerned is that I'm out of school and don't have children. Actually, I don't want to smart people getting themselves into incredible amounts of debt trying to go to college. I'm OK with stupid people going into debt. Still, I lose my concern because these rising costs can be attributed to factors that could be solved if colleges really want to. For instance, getting rid of inefficiency. Making professors actually teach classes rather than countless sabbaticals. Stop having a bunch of classes that no one goes to. Or having pointless classes that many people go to, but really don't have much education value, like a class on pornography. Give me a break. Don't give course credit for watching porn. Make them watch it on their own time. College students have it easier these days with the Internet. When I was in college, you only had bootleg videos and magazines if you wanted porn.

Yet, those issues pale in comparison to stupid studies. This study isn't just pointless. It's downright retarded. First off, why do I get the feeling that a group of people already sucking off the government teat wouldn't have a predisposed notion that taxes are good? Second, the study only has 19 people, and all of them are women. Great sampling. Third, they aren't really giving anyone money. It's a fake account. These people simply aren't giving away their own money. I learned when I worked summers for the Army that it's a lot easier to spend someone else's money than your own.

Those issues alone make this study complete crap. However, the biggest problem is that giving money to charity is not the same as paying taxes. I really do believe that charitable giving does make people feel better. In fact, way back in college I argued that true altruism doesn't exist because the proverbial "warm fuzzy" is a benefit to the one practicing it. But paying taxes is not the same as donating to charity. Donating to charity is something people do because they want to. Plus, they give it to whoever they want to give it to. Taxes are basically extortion (and in the best line ever, the taxers want a thank you for it). Pay them or go to jail. It doesn't matter if you believe in what it goes for. Conservatives have to subsidize welfare. Pacifists have to subsidize the military. Parents with children in private school have to pay property taxes to pay for public schools they don't use. Hell, I have to indirectly pay property taxes (factored into rent) to support schools even though I don't have kids. If these researchers really wanted to find out how people feel about taxes, they should have paid their subjects to be in the study. Then they should have taken half their paychecks to fund a junket for the professors to go to some pointless conference (which is much closer to what your tax dollars fund than a food bank). Let's see how positive a reaction they get from that?